ROBERT  E,  SPEER 


V 


Presbyterian 

Foreign  Missions 


An  Account  of  the  Foreign 
Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 


BY 

ROBERT  E.  SPEER 

Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 


PHILADELPHIA 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION  AND 

SABBATH-SCHOOL  WORK 

1901 


Copyright,   1901,  by 

THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLI- 
CATION AND  SABBATH-SCHOOL  WORK 


PREFACE 

THE  Bishop  of  Durham,  whose  devotion  of  his 
sons  to  the  mission  work  in  India  has  given  evi- 
dence of  the  depth  of  his  own  interest  in  missions, 
recommended  some  time  ago  to  the  clergy  of  his 
diocese  the  study  of  the  present  conquests  of  the 
Cross.  Scarcely  any  other  study  can  be  so  fruit- 
ful in  quickening  spiritual  purpose  and  confirming 
Christian  faith.  What  the  mission  work  is  ac- 
complishing is  intelligible  only  in  the  light  of  the 
presence  in  it  of  the  living  power  of  God. 

The  whole  work  of  missions,  however,  is  too 
great  for  Christians  any  longer  to  comprehend. 
Each  one  must  make  selection  of  those  phases  of 
it  which  are  of  most  interest  and  significance  to 
him.  Whatever  else  may  be  included  in  such  a 
selection,  we  surely  must  not  pass  over  the  mis- 
sion work  of  our  own  Church.  Histories  of  the 
missions  of  the  various  churches  make  this  kind 
of  study  possible,  and  they  also  give  hopeful 
proof  of  the  power  and  extent  of  the  missionary 
enterprise. 

This  little  volume  is  intended  to  meet  the 
needs  of  Presbyterians  in  this  regard,  and  to  pro- 
vide for  others  who  may  wish  it  a  brief  account 
of  the  foreign  missionary  work  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  Those  who  wish  to  go  further  will 
find  a  fuller  treatment  of  the  early  years  of  the 
work,  in  Greene's  Presbyterian  Missions  (Lowrie's 
notes) ;  of  details  and  dates  in  Historical  Sketches 
of  Presbyterian  Missions;  of  the  lives  of  the  mis- 
sionaries in  Rankin's  Missionary  Memoirs,  and  in 


18244S1 


4  PREFACE 

separate  biographies;  of  historic  incidents  and 
records  in  Rankin's  Handbook  and  Incidents  of 
Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in 
the  U.  S.  A.;  and  of  the  principles  on  which 
the  work  of  the  Church  has  been  conducted  in 
Ellimvood's  Questions  and  Phases  of  Modern 
Missions. 

It  cannot  but  be  helpful  especially  to  the  young 
people  of  each  church  to  consider  what  God  has 
wrought  for  their  fathers,  and  to  pray  that  they 
may  be  quickened  thereby  to  attempt  greater 
things  for  God. 


Contents 

CHAP.  P'AGE 

I.    THE   MISSIONARY  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE 

CHURCH  AT  HOME .    .      7 

II.    THE  MISSIONS  IN  AFRICA .    19 

III.    THE  MISSIONS  IN  INDIA 41 

IV.    THE  MISSIONS  IN  SIAM  AND  LAOS 75 

V.    THE  MISSIONS  IN  CHINA 99 

VI.    THE  MISSIONS  IN  JAPAN 137 

VII.    THE  MISSION  IN  KOREA 161 

VIII.    THE  MISSION  IN  SYRIA 181 

IX.    THE  MISSIONS  IN  PERSIA 209 

X.    THE  MISSIONS  IN  NORTH  AMERICA    ....  239 
XI.    THE  MISSIONS  IN  SOUTH  AMERICA     ....  263 

XII.    THE  MISSION  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES 285 

CONCLUSION 295 


THE  MISSIONARY  ORGANIZATION  OF 
THE  CHURCH  AT  HOME 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   MISSIONARY    ORGANIZATION    OF   THE   CHURCH 
AT   HOME 

THE  missionary  work  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  began  in  1741,  with  the  appointment  of 
Azariah  Horton,  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of 
New  York,  to  work  among  the  Indians  on  Long 
Island.  He  was  to  be  supported  by  "  The  Society 
in  Scotland  for  propagating  Christian  knowledge," 
which  had  been  instituted  in  Edinburgh  in  1709. 
His  salary  was  to  be  forty  pounds  sterling  per 
annum.  The  mission  met  with  success.  A 
number  were  taught  to  read,  and  in  two  or  three 
years  forty-five  adults  had  been  baptized.  But 
then,  as  now,  the  liquor  traffic  with  its  curse  came 
in  on  the  heels  of  the  missionary.  The  work 
grew,  however,  and  the  successors  of  these 
Indians,  known  as  the  Shinnecock  Indians,  still 
constitute  a  Presbyterian  church  numbering  now 
thirty-one  members  out  of  the  small  remaining 
community. 

David  Brainerd  was  the  second  missionary. 
He  had  labored  in  connection  with  the  Congrega- 
tional churches  at  Kaunaumeek,  an  Indian  settle- 
ment about  twenty  miles  from  Albany,  but  with 
little  encouragement  and  great  suffering.  In 
1744  he  was  ordained  a  missionary  of  the  Pres- 
bytery of  New  York  m  Newark,  New  Jersey,  and 
thenceforth  as  a  member  of  this  Presbytery  he 
carried  on  his  great  work  for  the  Indians.  The 


10  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

wonders  he  saw  wrought  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
among  the  Indians  at  Crossweeksung  have  always 
been  counted  among  the  greatest  achievements  of 
missions.  But  Brainerd  himself  was  a  great 
achievement.  He  poured  out  his  life  in  utterly 
unselfish  service  among  the  degraded  and  ignorant 
savages.  The  man's  influence,  perpetuated 
through  his  memoirs  which  Jonathan  Edwards 
published,  has  molded  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  of  lives.  Reading  the  life  of  Brainerd 
determined  Henry  Martyn  to  "imitate  his  exam- 
ple," and  go  as  a  missionary;  and  William  Carey 
was  profoundly  affected  by  it.  Something  of  the 
spirit  of  this  devoted  missionary  is  shown  in  such 
an  extract  as  this  from  his  journal :  "  Oh  how  I 
longed  that  God  should  be  glorified  on  earth  ! 
Bodily  pains  I  cared  not  for.  Though  I  was  then 
in  extremity,  I  never  felt  easier ;  I  felt  willing  to 
glorify  God  in  that  state  of  bodily  distress,  so  long 
as  he  pleased  I  should  continue  in  it.  The  grave 
appeared  really  sweet,  and  I  longed  to  lodge  my 
weary  bones  in  it ;  but  oh  that  God  might  be 
glorified  !  this  was  the  burden  of  all  my  cry. 
Oh  to  love  and  praise  God  more,  to  please  him 
forever  !  this  my  soul  panted  after,  and  even  now 
pants  for  while  I  write.  Oh  that  God  might  be 
glorified  in  the  whole  earth  !  Lord  let  thy  king- 
dom come  !  .  .  .  Oh  the  blessedness  of  living  to 
God  !  .  .  .  Spent  two  hours  in  secret  duties,  and 
was  enabled  to  agonize  for  immortal  souls,  though 
it  was  early  in  the  morning  and  the  sun  scarcely 
shone,  yet  my  body  was  quite  wet  with 
sweat.  .  .  .  With  what  reluctance  did  I  feel  my- 
self obliged  to  consume  time  in  sleep  !  I  longed 
to  be  a  flame  of  fire,  continually  glowing  in  the 
divine  service,  and  building  up  Christ's  kingdom 
to  my  latest,  my  dying  moment." 

It   is   not   surprising   that   Jonathan   Edwards 


THE   CHURCH   AT   HOME  II 

should  have  closed  his  sermon  at  Brainerd's 
funeral,  with  the  appeal :  "  Oh  that  the  things 
which  were  seen  and  heard  in  this  extraordinary 
person — his  holiness,  heavenliness,  labor  and  self- 
denial  in  life ;  his  so  remarkably  devoting  him- 
self and  his  all,  in  heart  and  practice,  to  the  glory 
of  God  ;  and  the  wonderful  frame  of  mind  mani- 
fested, in  so  steadfast  a  manner,  under  the  ex- 
pectation of  death,  and  under  the  pains  and 
agonies  which  brought  it  on ; — may  excite  in  us 
all,  both  ministers  and  people,  a  due  sense  of  the 
greatness  of  the  work  which  we  have  to  do  in  the 
world,  of  the  excellency  and  the  amiableness  of 
thorough  religion  in  experience  and  practice,  of 
the  blessedness  of  the  end  of  those  whose  death 
finishes  such  a  life,  and  of  the  infinite  value  of 
their  eternal  reward,  when  'absent  from  the  body 
and  present  with  the  Lord  '  ;  and  effectually  stir 
us  up  to  constant  and  effectual  endeavors  that,  in 
the  way  of  such  a  holy  life,  we  may  at  last  come 
to  so  blessed  an  end.  Amen." 

David  Brainerd's  brother  John  was  supported 
in  his  work  among  the  Indians  by  funds  raised  in 
America,  and  in  1763,  the  Synod  of  New  York 
ordered  collections  to  be  taken  in  all  the  churches 
for  the  support  of  the  Indian  missions.  Various 
missions  among  the  Indians  were  undertaken  by 
voluntary  missionary  societies  in  the  Church,  and 
by  the  General  Assembly,  which  took  up  the  work 
systematically  in  1800,  supporting  missions  to  the 
Cherokees,  the  Wyandots,  the  Six  Nations  and 
the  Indians  at  Lewistown,  Ohio.  In  1817  the 
United  Foreign  Missionary  Society  was  formed, 
consisting  "  of  the  Presbyterian,  Reformed  Dutch 
and  Associate  Reformed  Churches,  and  all 
others  who  may  choose  to  join  them."  Its  ob- 
ject was  to  be  "  to  spread  the  gospel  among  the 
Indians  of  North  America,  the  inhabitants  of 


12  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Mexico  and  other  portions  of  the  heathen  and 
anti-Christian  world."  President  Monroe  and 
Colonel  McKenney,  the  superintendent  of  Indian 
trade,  befriended  the  Society  at  once.  The  latter, 
it  was  said,  "  could  scarcely  have  embarked  in  its 
favor  with  more  zeal  and  activity,  if  the  whole 
concern  had  been  his  own."  The  Society  es- 
tablished five  missions  among  the  Osages  in 
Arkansas  and  in  Missouri ;  the  Cattaraugus 
Mission  in  New  York,  the  Mackinaw  Mission  in 
Michigan,  and  a  mission  in  Hayti;  other  missions 
were  transferred  to  it  by  the  smaller  organizations 
which  had  grown  up. 

In  1826  all  the  work  of  this  Society  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Missions,  now  the  organization  of  the 
Congregational  churches,  but  then  cherishing  the 
hope  of  being  a  national  institution  and  the  mis- 
sionary society  of -the  Christians  of  many  denomi- 
nations. There  were  many  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  however,  who  were  averse  to  this  con- 
solidation, believing  that  the  Church  should  have 
its  own  distinctive  missionary  organization.  Some 
of  the  synods  had  conducted  their  own  missions 
since  1789,  when  the  Synod  of  Virginia  appointed 
a  Commission  of  Synod  for  this  purpose.  The 
Synod  of  Pittsburg  had  organized  itself  at  its  first 
meeting  in  1802,  as  the  Western  Missionary 
Society.  When  the  United  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  was  absorbed  by  the  American  Board, 
the  men  who  believed  in  the  distinct  association  of 
the  Church  as  a  Church  with  missions,  began  to 
plan  for  some  arrangement  that  would  save  their 
principles.  In  1831  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg 
formed  a  distinct  foreign  missionary  society  under 
the  name,  The  Western  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  with  the  purpose  of  recognizing  "the 
Church  in  her  very  organization  as  a  society  for 


THE   CHURCH    AT   HOME  13 

missions  to  the  heathen."  The  Rev.  Elisha  P. 
Swift,  D.  D.,  was  the  first  secretary  of  this  Society, 
and  the  first  large  gift  was  one  thousand  dollars, 
given  by  the  Hon.  Walter  Lowrie,  then  secretary 
of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  It  was  this 
Society  that  began  in  1833  the  missions  of  our 
Church  to  Africa  and  India,  and  later  the  Indian 
missions  among  the  Weas  and  lowas,  and  in 
1837  the  mission  to  China.  The  energy  and 
broad-mindedness  of  the  Society  were  astonishing. 
The  scope  of  its  projects  as  indicated  in  the  chap- 
ters on  India  and  Africa  in  this  volume,  is  sur- 
passed even  by  the  foresightedness  of  its  treat- 
ment of  the  subject  of  printing  in  Chinese  from 
metallic  type.  Though  poor,  the  Committee  joined 
with  the  Royal  Printing  Establishment  of  France 
and  the  British  Museum  in  ordering  three  sets  of 
matrices  for  $6,600  each,  three  orders  being  re- 
quired by  the  typographer  before  he  could  afford  to 
complete  the  work.  Looking  out  over  the  immense 
field,  the  Committee  boldly  declared  that  they 
trusted  "  the  time  is  nearly  past  when  the  Presby- 
terian Church  will  continue  to  stand  with  her 
arms  folded,  while  the  millions  of  China  are  per- 
ishing in  her  sight."  The  Committee  for  a  little 
while  supported  the  work  of  Mr.  Brewer  in 
Smyrna,  and  it  established  The  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Chronicle,  which  was  merged  into  The  Home 
and  Foreign  Record  in  1850.  The  Record  was 
succeeded  by  The  Church  at  Home  and  Abroad 
in  1886,  and  this  in  turn  by  The  Assembly 
Herald  in  1898. 

In  1837  the  present  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
was  established  by  the  General  Assembly,  repre- 
sentations having  been  made  that  the  Church 
owed  "it  as  a  sacred  duty  to  her  glorified  Head, 
to  yield  a  far  more  exemplary  obedience,  and  that 
in  her  distinctive  character  as  a  Church,  to  the 


command  which  he  gave  at  his  ascension  into 
heaven  :  '  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  every  creature.'  It  is  believed  to  be 
among  the  causes  of  the  frowns  of  the  great  Head 
of  the  Church,  which  are  now  resting  on  our  be- 
loved Zion,  in  the  declension  of  vital  piety  and 
the  disorders  and  divisions  that  distract  us,  that 
we  have  done  so  little — comparatively  nothing — in 
our  distinctive  character  as  a  Church  of  Christ,  to 
send  the  gospel  to  the  heathen,  the  Jews,  and  the 
Mohammedans."1  The  Western  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  which  had  just  changed  its  name 
to  the  Presbyterian  Foreign  Missionary  Society, 
transferred  all  its  work  to  the  new  Board,  which 
held  its  first  meeting  in  Baltimore,  on  October 
3ist,  1837.  Samuel  Miller  was  chosen  president, 
and  the  Hon.  Walter  Lowrie  secretary. 

Walter  Lowrie  was  one  of  the  great  characters 
of  our  Church.  He  was  born  in  Edinburgh, 
Scotland,  December  10,  1784.  He  was  brought 
to  America  when  eight  years  old,  and  settled 
with  his  parents  first  in  Huntingdon  County,  then 
in  Butler  County,  Pennsylvania.  Intending  to 
enter  the  ministry,  he  was  turned  aside.  In  1811, 
he  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
then,  after  seven  years'  service,  to  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States.  At  the  expiration  of  his  term, 
in  1824,  he  became  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  and 
held  the  office  for  twelve  years,  and  was  urged  to 
remain,  but  turned  from  it  in  1836,  to  become 
secretary  of  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety, and  then  of  the  Board.  He  held  this  office 
until,  disabled  by  the  infirmities  of  old  age,  he 
Maid  it  down  in  1868.  He  was  a  man  of  calm, 
judicious  mind,  trusted  absolutely  by  all  men, 
and  beloved.  In  the  Senate,  among  such  men  as 
Webster,  Clay,  Calhoun,  and  Randolph,  he  was 
1  Green,  Presbyterian  Missions,  Lowrie's  notes,  p.  190  f. 


THE   CHURCH    AT   HOME  15 

regarded  as  "an  authority  upon  all  questions  of 
political  history  and  constitutional  law."  And 
later,  whenever  he  rose  to  speak  in  any  assembly 
of  the  Church,  there  was  a  silent  and  confident 
attention.  Every  one  knew  that  Walter  Lowrie 
was  absolutely  true  and  genuine.  'He  taught 
himself  Chinese  in  order  to  help  the  press  in 
Shanghai,  and  he  laid  the  foundations  of  that 
great  enterprise.  No  detail  was  too  small  for  his 
honest  care,  and  no  plans  were  so  great  as  to 
appall  him.  He  was  a  man  of  missionary  heart. 
He  abandoned  a  lucrative  position  for  one  that 
never  supported  his  family,  and  he  gave  three  sons 
to  missions,  one  to  India,  and  two  to  China,  one 
of  them  to  a  martyr's  death.  He  was  as  simple 
as  he  was  great,  loving  Christ  as  a  little  child, 
and  pleading  everywhere  and  always,  often  with 
tears,  for  the  work  to  which  he  had  given  up 
everything  himself,  and  for  which  his  Master  had 
given  up  all  before  him. 

Three  other  names  which  have  been  associated 
with  the  mission  work  of  the  Church  for  many 
years,  are  the  Rev.  John  C.  Lowrie,  Walter 
Lowrie's  son,  who  went  to  India  in  1833,  but  was 
obliged  to  return  on  account  of  ill  health  in  1836, 
and  who  then  was  secretary  of  the  Board  until 
1891,  when  he  became  emeritus  secretary,  con- 
tinuing so  until  his  death  in  1900;  William  Ran- 
kin,  Esquire,  treasurer  from  1850  to  1887  ;  and 
the  Rev.  F.  F.  Ellinwood,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  secre- 
tary from  1871,  and  now  senior  secretary,  trusted 
and  honored  throughout  the  Church. 

From  its  institution  in  1837,  the  Board  was 
composed  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  members, 
one-fourth  of  this  number  being  selected  each 
year  by  the  General  Assembly.  An  executive 
committee  of  nine  was  appointed  by  the  Board. 
The  year  after  the  Board  was  established  by  the 


1 6  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Assembly,  the  Church  was  divided  into  the  Old 
School  and  New  School,  separated  by  divergent 
views  on  both  doctrine  and  policy.  The  New 
School  churches  affiliated  themselves  with  the 
American  Board,  while  the  Old  School  churches 
did  their  foreign  mission  work  through  the  Board 
established  in  1837.  When  the  Civil  War  broke 
out,  the  Southern  churches  separated  from  the 
Northern,  and  formed  their  own  missionary  or- 
ganization. No  changes  were  made  in  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Board,  either  in  1837  or  in  1861, 
but  in  1870  the  General  Assembly  reduced  its 
membership  to  fifteen,  the  Old  and  New  School 
churches  having  reunited  at  Pittsburg  the  pre- 
ceding year.  At  the  Reunion  the  missions  of 
the  American  Board  in  Syria,  Persia,  and  on  the 
Gaboon,  were  transferred  with  the  support  of  the 
New  School  churches  to  the  Presbyterian  Board. 
In  1890  the  Board  was  enlarged  to  twenty-one 
members,  one- third  to  be  elected  annually  by  the 
Assembly.  It  now  holds  the  allegiance  of  all  the 
Northern  Presbyterian  churches,  the  New  School 
congregations  having  transferred  their  support  to 
it  at  the  time  of  the  Reunion.  The  Southern 
Church  is  still  distinct,  but  its  Foreign  Mission 
Executive  Committee  and  our  Board  work  to- 
gether in  the  closest  harmony  and  confidence. 
The  American  Board,  the  oldest  American  mis- 
sionary organization  now  in  existence,  has  be- 
come the  missionary  agency  of  the  Congregational 
churches,  and  our  Board's  relations  to  it  are  also 
wholly  harmonious  and  cooperative. 

The  women  of  the  Church  have  been  from  the 
beginning  among  the  best  friends  of  missions. 
"In  those  early  days  and  in  a  new  and  sparsely 
settled  country,  where  ordinary  business  was 
chiefly  conducted  by  barter  and  but  little  money 
was  available,  their  missionary  gifts  were  in  many 


THE   CHURCH    AT   HOME  1 7 

cases  the  work  of  their  own  hands.  By  weaving, 
knitting,  and  sewing,  in  the  use  of  flax  and  wool ; 
in  preparing  articles  of  food  that  admitted  of 
transportation  in  a  rough  way ;  in  readiness  to  go 
as  missionary  teachers  and  helpers  at  Indian  sta- 
tions, when  Providence  permitted  ;  above  all,  in 
the  great,  if  not  the  greatest,  agency  of  prayer  for 
the  divine  blessing  on  this  evangelizing  work — in 
all  such  ways  their  interest  in  its  success  was  very 
manifest."1  There  were,  however,  no  general 
organizations  of  all  the  women  of  the  Church  in 
those  early  days.  These  began  in  1870,  and 
there  are  now  seven  auxiliary  Women's  Boards, 
which  divide  the  territory  of  the  Church,  with 
headquarters  at  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Chicago, 
St.  Louis,  San  Francisco,  and  Portland,  Oregon. 
They  have  given  since  1870,  nearly  seven  million 
dollars  to  the  work. 

The  first  offices  of  the  Board  were  movable, 
but  in  1839,  it  found  a  home  at  29  Centre  Street, 
New  York  City.  In  1888  it  moved  to  53  Fifth 
Avenue,  to  live  with  the  Board  of  Home  Missions 
and  the  Board  of  Church  Erection.  Once  again 
it  moved,  in  1895  to  its  present  home  at  156 
Fifth  Avenue. 

From  time  to  time  various  mission  projects 
have  been  helped  which  are  not  recorded  in  the 
following  chapters.  These  chapters  are  devoted, 
with  the  exception  of  the  account  of  the  missions 
among  the  American  Indians,  to  the  more  exten- 
sive and  enduring  enterprises  which  are  still  under 
the  care  of  the  Board. 

It  has  been  the  noble  feature  of  the  mis- 
sionary work  of  the  Church  that  it  has  ever 
claimed  to  be  the  work  of  the  Church  in  her  real 
character,  and  has  insisted  that  in  attempting  to 
carry  the  gospel  to  the  world  the  Church  was 

1  Green,  Presbyterian  Missions,  Lowrie's  notes,  p.  77. 


1 8  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

most  truly  obeying  Christ,  discharging  the  real 
functions  of  a  Church,  and  fulfilling  her  own 
nature.  As  was  declared  in  the  General  As- 
sembly of  1847  :  "  The  Presbyterian  Church  is 
a  Missionary  Society,  the  object  of  which  is  to 
aid  in  the  conversion  of  the  world,  and  every 
member  of  this  Church  is  a  member  for  life  of 
said  Society,  and  bound  to  do  all  in  his  power  for 
the  accomplishment  of  this  object  "  ;  while  the 
General  Assembly  of  1867  said,  "This  Assembly 
regards  the  whole  Church  as  a  Missionary  Society 
whose  main  work  is  to  spread  the  knowledge  of 
salvation." 

The  fathers  laid  the  foundations  wisely  and 
builded  well.  Their  children  must  not  lose  their 
fathers'  spirit  nor  forget  their  fathers'  faith. 


THE  MISSIONS  IN  AFRICA 


CHAPTER  TI 

THE   MISSIONS    IN    AFRICA 

THE  first  missionaries  sent  to  foreign  lands 
from  the  American  Presbyterian  Church,  sailed 
in  1833  for  Africa  and  India.  Messrs.  John  B. 
Pinney  and  Joseph  W.  Barr,  from  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary,  were  the  first  missionaries 
designated  to  Africa.  Mr.  Barr  died  before  he 
could  set  out  for  his  field,  and  Mr.  Pinney  waited 
some  time  for  a  companion,  but  having  delayed 
nearly  three  months  "  without  anyone  offering  to 
accompany  him,  and  all  his  arrangements  for  his 
departure  being  made,  his  zeal  in  the  cause  in 
which  he  had  engaged  determined  him  to  em- 
brace an  opportunity  which  offered,  and  to  sail 
for  Liberia,  in  hope  that  his  unaided  efforts  might 
prove  an  encouragement  and  prepare  the  way  for 
others  to  follow  him."  * 

Liberia,  which  lies  roughly  between  5°  and  7° 
north  latitude,  with  a  coast  line  northwest  and 
southeast  of  about  500  miles,  had  not  yet  been  or- 
ganized as  a  republic,  and  was  barely  ten  years 
old  as  a  community  of  American  negroes,  when 
Pinney  landed.  The  first  settlement  on  the  coast 
was  on  January  7,  1821,  by  eighty-nine  free  ne- 
groes who  had  sailed  from  New  York.  The 
American  Colonization  Society  sent  a  colony  of 
freed  slaves  the  next  year,  and  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century  exercised  supervision  over  the  emigrants. 
Mr.  Pinney  became  the  second  governor  under 

1  Green,  Presbyterian  Missions,  Lowrie's  notes,  p.  1 16. 
21 


22  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

the  Colonization  Society.  On  July  26,  1847,  tne 
Liberian  Republic  was  established  on  the  model 
of  the  United  States. 

The  first  missionary  work  had  been  done  by  a 
slave,  Lot  Gary,  who  had  bought  his  freedom  and 
been  sent  out  by  the  Baptists  in  1821  ;  and  while 
missionaries  from  Switzerland  had  come  in  1825, 
but  Pinney  was  the  first  white  missionary  from 
America.  After  four  months'  stay  he  came  home 
during  the  rainy  season,  and  then  returned  with 
four  new  missionaries,  one  a  wife,  and  one  a 
young  American  negro.  The  tragedy  of  African 
missions  at  once  appeared  to  the  Church,  when 
within  five  months  three  of  the  new  missionaries 
had  died  "in  the  possession  of  a  calm  and  cheer- 
ful anticipation  of  immortal  felicity,"  and  the 
young  negro  had  withdrawn  and  returned.  A 
new  man  was  sent,  but  soon  both  he  and  Mr. 
Pinney  exhausted  by  disease  were  forced  to  em- 
bark for  home.  The  Church  was  greatly  cast 
down,  and  as  a  Manual  of  Missions  published  in 
1854  states:  "The  loss  of  several  valuable  lives 
and  the  failure  of  the  health  of  other  brethren, 
proved  extremely  discouraging  to  many  persons. 
Yet  others  were  clear  in  their  convictions  that  the 
Church  ought  not  to  abandon  this  missionary 
field."  The  voices  of  courage  prevailed.  The 
question  was  naturally  raised,  however,  whether 
negro  missionaries  from  America  could  not  be 
used  more  wisely  as  likely  to  endure  the  climate 
better.  The  home  Church  learned  that  the  forty- 
four  white  men  and  thirty-five  women  sent  to 
Sierra  Leone  by  the  Church  of  England  Mission- 
ary Society,  from  1812  to  1830,  had  lived  in  that 
colony  an  aggregate  of  two  hundred  and  eight 
years,  an  average  of  two  and  one-half  years  each, 
and  more  or  less  of  that  a  time  of  severe  sickness, 
while  forty-four  had  died  the  first  year.  This 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    AFRICA  23 

confirmed  it  in  its  feeling,  and,  believing  that 
"the  constitution  of  the  colored  men  of  the 
Southern  States  has  nothing  to  apprehend  from 
the  climate  of  Africa,"  it  resolved  to  send  out 
"  pious,  suitable  men  "  from  among  them.  With- 
out discontinuing  the  appointment  of  white  men, 
this  policy  was  pursued  until,  in  1866,  Edward 
Boeklen,  a  German  member  of  the  Presbytery  of 
New  York,  was  sent  out  as  the  last  white  man. 
He  died  in  two  years.  Another  motive  besides 
that  of  health  inclined  the  Church  to  discontinue 
sending  white  missionaries.  It  was  felt  that  Li- 
beria was  a  black  man's  country,  and  that  jeal- 
ousy and  animosity  would  be  avoided  by  sending 
colored  ministers. 

The  negroes  from  America  have  neither  proved 
immune  from  disease  and  fever,  nor  shown  those 
qualities  of  enterprise,  stability  and  solidity  of 
work  without  which  a  mission  cannot  be  counted 
as  satisfactory.  Therefore,  while  there  have  been 
not  a  few  zealous  and  capable  Christian  men  among 
them,  and  the  Republic  has  been  far  in  advance 
of  the  native  African  communities  in  intelligence, 
morality,  and  order,  the  Colonization  enterprise 
died  long  ago,  and  the  hope  that  the  American 
negro  would  evangelize  the  continent  of  his 
fathers  has  been  abandoned,  at  least  until  he 
shall  have  been  brought  by  education  and  long 
discipline  to  a  tenacity  and  directness  of  character 
he  does  not  yet  possess. 

The  sending  of  white  men  to  Liberia  having 
been  discontinued  thirty-four  years  ago,  the  ques- 
tion of  reconsidering  such  a  course  was  taken  up 
in  1894,  and  it  was  decided  not  only  to  send  no 
more  white  men  but  also  to  bring  the  Liberian 
churches  to  a  self-supporting  basis  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, and  to  concentrate  the  efforts  of  the  Church 
in  Africa  upon  the  field  of  what  is  now  called  the 


24  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Western  Africa  Mission  but  which  was  called  for 
years  the  Gaboon  and  Corisco  Mission.  This 
has  now  been  done,  and  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Liberia  receives  no  subsidy  from  America,  but 
cares  for  its  own  congregations  and  schools.1 

The  Gaboon  and  Corisco  Mission  derived  its 
name  from  Corisco  Island  and  the  Gaboon  River, 
both  lying  between  the  equator  and  one  degree 
north  latitude.  The  Mission  at  the  time  of  its 
greatest  extent  north  and  south  reached  from  the 
Ogowe  River  in  the  French  Congo,  i°  south  lati- 
tude, to  between  3°  and  4°  north  latitude  in  the 
German  territory  of  Kamerun.  No  missions  are 
at  work  in  the  interior  for  thousands  of  miles,  and 
unnumbered  peoples  are  to  be  reached  by  our 
missionaries  or  not  reached  at  all.  Thus  far  the 
work  has  not  penetrated  far  from  the  coast,  which 
is  low  and  covered  with  jungle,  save  where  the 
settlements  have  broken  in.  "  The  Benita,  Muni, 
Gaboon,  and  Ogowe,  drain  the  country,  and  are 
fed  by  many  small  affluents.  The  natives  orig- 
inally lived  under  a  patriarchal  form  of  govern- 
ment, no  tribe  being  governed  by  any  one  ruler, 
but  each  village  directed  by  a  local  chief  or  head- 
man, mistakenly  called  '  king,'  whose  position 
was  due  only  to  his  being  senior  member  of  the 
family,  and  who  had  authority  only  so  far  as  his 
age  or  force  of  character  could  command  respect. 
This  form  of  government  still  holds  in  the  inte- 
rior, even  where  France  and  Germany  claim 
authority,  but  near  the  coast  it  is  more  form 
than  substance,  the  foreign  governments  insisting 
on  a  measure  of  compliance  with  their  methods 
of  colonial  control." 2 

1  According  to  the  report  of  the  West  Africa  Presbytery 
(Liberia)  of  1899,  there  were  ten  ordained  ministers,  and 
twelve  congregations. 

*  Historical  Sketches  of  Presbyterian  Jllissiotis,  p.  II. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    AFRICA  25 

Miss  Kingsley,  the  niece  of  Charles  Kingsley, 
gives  a  vivid  picture  in  her  Travels  in  West  Af- 
rica, of  the  forests  and  streams  of  this  region. 
"The  day  soon  grew  dull,"  she  says,  "after  the 
delusive  manner  of  the  dry  season.  The  climbing 
plants  are  finer  here  than  I  have  ever  seen  them. 
They  form  great  veils  and  curtains  between  and 
over  the  trees,  often  hanging  so  straight  and  flat, 
in  stretches  of  twenty  to  forty  feet  or  so  wide,  and 
thirty  to  sixty  or  seventy  feet  high,  that  it  seems 
incredible  that  no  human  hand  has  trained  or 
clipped  them  into  their  perfect  forms.  Sometimes 
these  curtains  are  decorated  with  large  bell-shaped, 
bright-colored  flowers,  sometimes  with  delicate 
sprays  of  white  blossoms.  This  forest  is  beyond 
all  my  expectations  of  tropical  luxuriance  and 
beauty,  and  it  is  a  thing  of  another  world  to  the 
forest  of  the  Upper  Calabar,  which,  beautiful  as  it 
is,  is  a  sad  dowdy  to  this.  There  you  certainly 
get  a  great  sense  of  grimness  and  vastness ;  here 
you  have  an  equal  grimness  and  vastness  with  the 
addition  of  superb  color.  This  forest  is  a  Cleo- 
patra to  which  Calabar  is  but  a  Quaker.  Not  only 
does  this  forest  depend  on  flowers  for  its  illumina- 
tion, for  there  are  many  kinds  of  trees  having  their 
young  shoots,  crimson,  brown-pink,  and  creamy 
yellow  ;  added  to  this  there  is  also  the  relieving 
aspect  of  the  prevailing  fashion  among  West  Af- 
rican trees,  of  wearing  the  trunk  white,  with  here 
and  there  upon  it  splashes  of  pale-pink  lichen, 
and  vermilion-red  fungus,  which  alone  is  sufficient 
to  prevent  the  great  mass  of  vegetation  from  being 
a  monotony  in  green.  All  day  long  we  steam 
past  ever-varying  scenes  of  loveliness  whose  com- 
ponent parts  are  ever  the  same,  yet  the  effect  ever 
different.  Doubtless  it  is  wrong  to  call  it  a  sym- 
phony, yet  I  know  no  other  word  to  describe  the 
scenery  of  the  Ogowe.  It  is  as  full  of  life  and 


26  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

beauty  and  passion  as  any  symphony  Beethoven 
ever  wrote,  the  parts  changing,  interweaving,  and 
returning.  There  are  leit  motifs  here  in  it,  too.  See 
the  papyrus  ahead  ;  and  you  know  when  you  get 
abreast  of  it  you  will  find  the  great  forest  sweep- 
ing away  in  a  bay-like  curve  behind  it  against  the 
dull  gray  sky,  the  splendid  columns  of  its  cotton 
and  red  woods  looking  like  a  facade  of  some  lim- 
itless inchoate  temple.  Then  again  there  is  that 
stretch  of  sword  grass,  looking  as  if  it  grew  firmly 
on  to  the  bottom,  so  steady  does  it  stand ;  but  as  the 
"Move"  goes  by,  her  wash  sets  it  undulating  in 
waves  across  its  broad  acres  of  extent,  showing  it 
is  only  riding  at  anchor ;  and  you  know  after  a 
grass  patch  you  will  soon  see  a  red  dwarf  clay 
cliff,  with  a  village  perched  on  its  top,  and  the  in- 
habitants thereof  in  their  blue  and  red  cloths 
standing  by  to  shout  and  wave  to  the  "Move," 
or  legging  it  like  lamplighters  from  the  back 
streets  and  the  plantation  to  the  river  frontage,  to 
be  in  time  to  do  so,  and  through  all  these  chang- 
ing phrases  there  is  always  the  strain  of  the  vast 
wild  forest,  and  the  swift,  deep,  silent  river." 

There  are  no  roads  through  these  forests,  but 
only  narrow  trails  traveled  single  file.  Goods 
must  be  carried  into  the  interior  by  carriers,  each 
with  his  pack  ;  and  when  invalids  are  to  be  brought 
down  from  the  bush,  it  must  be  in  hammocks 
hung  on  men's  shoulders.  On  the  streams  the 
people  travel  to  and  fro  in  canoes,  and  the  mis- 
sionaries in  sailboats  or  launches.  In  1871,  the 
Mission  was  provided  with  a  "  handsome,  rapid- 
sailing  sloop-rigged  yacht,  the  'Elfe,'  "  which  af- 
ter two  years,  was  wrecked  on  the  Corisco  rocks. 
The  "Hudson,"  a  schooner  of  twelve  tons,  suc- 
ceeded it,  but  was  slow  and  poorly  built  and  un- 
comfortable. In  1885,  the  children  of  the  Sun- 

1  Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in  West  Africa,  p.  129  f. 


THE    MISSIONS   IN    AFRICA  27 

day  schools  and  mission  bands  gave  the  money 
for  the  "  Nassau,"  a  small  sloop  built  in  Liver- 
pool, which  has  sailed  up  and  down  the  coast  ever 
since.  The  latest  boat  is  the  "  Dorothy,"  a  naph- 
tha launch  of  four  and  one-half  tons,  which  will 
ply  on  the  Gaboon  river,  and  as  far  as  possible 
along  the  coast.  Not  only  are  there  no  roads,  but 
there  is  no  money,  either,  and  all  payments  must 
be  made  and  all  trade  carried  on  by  barter,  in 
beads,  cloth,  knives,  hardware,  etc. 

The  people  of  the  French  Congo  and  Kamerun 
are  kindly,  docile,  hospitable,  open-hearted  and 
respectful,  nor  wanting  in  many  other  good  qual- 
ities. Dr.  J.  Leighton  Wilson,  one  of  the  earlier 
missionaries,  and  for  seven  years  one  of  the  secre- 
taries of  the  Board,  writing  from  his  experience 
of  nineteen  years'  residence  in  Africa,  said:  "I 
have  traveled  many  thousand  miles  among  these 
people,  among  tribes  who  had  never  before  seen  a 
white  man,  in  times  of  peace  and  in  times  of  war, 
at  their  homes  and  on  the  way  to  shed  the  blood 
of  their  fellow-men,  and  yet  I  never  thought  it 
necessary  to  furnish  myself  with  a  single  imple- 
ment of  defense  nor  had  just  cause  for  using  one. 
I  have  passed  through  the  largest  villages  alone  in 
the  middle  of  the  night  with  a  feeling  of  as  much 
security  as  I  could  possibly  have  felt  in  traveling 
the  streets  of  any  city  of  these  United  States.  Dur- 
ing the  whole  time  of  my  residence  in  that  country 
I  scarcely  remember  to  have  heard  a  single  sylla- 
ble from  the  lips  of  one  of  these  people  which 
could  in  any  sense  be  construed  as  an  intentional 
insult  to  myself;  and  yet  they  are  heathen  in  the 
full  sense  of  the  word,*  and  no  missionary  can  live 
among  them  without  finding  ample  cause  of  per- 
plexity and  annoyance."1  Forty  years  later, 

1  Rankin,  Incidents  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  p.  79. 


28  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Miss  Isabella  Nassau,  who  has  now  spent 
more  than  thirty-two  years  in  Africa,  wrote 
from  her  home  on  the  Ogovve :  "In  lonely 
places,  with  only  three  or  four  trusted  Christian 
natives,  surrounded  by  crowds  of  wild  people, 
neither  by  clay  nor  by  night  have  I  feared,  though 
doubtless  there  was  at  times  reason  for  doing  so. 
What  kind  womanliness  some  of  these  women 
have  shown  me  !  What  manly  courtesy  and  hos- 
pitality some  of  these  uncultivated  sons  of  the 
wilderness  !  No  wonder  that  I  feel  at  home  in 
this  low,  dark,  not  over-clean  bamboo  hut.  But 
I  love  their  souls.  I  long  to  see  their  conversion. ' ' 
Sometimes  one  fears  in  working  with  such  people 
that  they  are  too  ready  to  assent,  they  look  up  so 
to  the  foreigners.  "  Each  missionary  on  arrival 
is  addressed  with  the  title  of  '  father '  or 
'mother.''  There  is  no  hostility  as  in  China, 
nor  any  use  of  opprobrious  names.  And  in  the 
villages  the  missionaries  are  treated  much  the 
same  as  the  native  chiefs.  When  Mr.  Mackey 
went  to  Corisco,  that  position  was  formally  voted 
to  him  and  his  successors  by  the  council  of  Cor- 
isco chiefs.  Indeed  the  missionary  has  rather  to 
fear  that  the  people  will  too  completely  depend 
upon  him  and  accept  his  will,  instead  of  develop- 
ing into  robust  and  independent  characters. 
There  are  more  savage  tribes,  like  the  Fang, 
which  are  less  docile. 

On  the  unfavorable  side  it  must  be  noted  that 
there  is  no  common  or  effective  government. 
There  are  incessant  village  feuds.  The  people 
are  indolent.  That  is  one  foundation  of  polyg- 
amy. A  chief  wants  wives  to  do  his  work  for 
him.  The  wants  of  the  people  "being  few  in 
food  or  clothing  are  easily  supplied  from  the 
rivers,  their  women's  farms,  and  from  the  forests. 
They  have  no  trades,  and  but  very  limited  arts  of 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    AFRICA  29 

rude  house  and  boat-building,  carpentering  and 
blacksmithing.  .  .  .  Unlike  some  of  the  tribes  of 
southern  Africa,  they  are  willing  to  change  their 
rude  tools  and  utensils,  readily  accept  ours,  and 
are  glad  to  be  taught  carpentering."  They  are 
not  stupid  or  incapable  of  development.  "  It  is 
utter  rubbish  to  say,  '  You  cannot  teach  an  adult 
African,'  and  that  'he  grows  backward';  for 
even  without  white  interference  he  gets  more  and 
more  cunning  as  the  time  goes  on.  Does  anyone 
who  knows  them  feel  inclined  to  tell  me  that  those 
old  palm-oil  chiefs  have  not  learnt  a  thing  or  two 
during  their  lives?  or  that  a  well-matured  bush 
trader  has  not?  Go  down  to  West  Africa  your- 
self, if  you  doubt  this,  and  carry  on  a  series  of  ex- 
periments with  them  in  subjects  they  know  of— 
trade  subjects, — and  try  to  get  the  best  of  a  whole 
series  of  matured  adults,  male  and  female,  and  I 
can  promise  you  you  will  return  a  wiser  and  a 
poorer  man,  but  with  a  joyful  heart  regarding  the 
capacity  of  the  African  to  grow  up."  l 

The  great  need  of  the  people  is  simple,  practical 
Christianity, — of  the  hand  as  well  as  of  the  head 
and  heart.  "Our  own  methods  of  instruction," 
Miss  Kingsley  urges,  "  have  not  been  of  any  real 
help  to  the  African,  because  what  he  wants  teaching 
is  how  to  work."  Mission  schools  like Lovedale, 
of  the  Scotch  Presbyterians,  have  accomplished 
enduring  results  by  teaching  simple  industries, 
and  holding  their  pupils  down  to  the  practical 
needs  of  their  homes  and  their  people. 

Slavery,  intemperance,  and  polygamy,  are  three 
evils  which  work  against  the  ideals  of  missions. 
Slaves  are  no  longer  exported  from  West  Africa, 
but  slavery  continues  unrestrained  as  a  native  in- 
stitution. The  natives  have  their  own  liquors 
made  from  plantains,  bananas,  and  palms,  but 

1  Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in  IVest  Africa,  p.  673. 


30  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

the  foreign  traders  have  poured  in  a  flood  of  im- 
ported rum,  gin,  and  whiskey.  As  for  polygamy, 
it  has  influenced  social  ideals  as  it  inevitably  does 
wherever  it  prevails;  and  however  Dr.  Blyden 
and  Miss  Kingsley  may  apologize  for  it,  it  cannot 
be  regarded  by  Christians  as  essential  or  harm- 
less. At  present  a  man's  wealth  is  usually  ex- 
pressed in  wives,  which  are  bought  as  other 
merchandise.  Mr.  Mackey  gave  in  one  of  the 
earliest  letters  from  the  Mission,  a  list  of  the  ar- 
ticles paid  for  a  Corisco  girl :  "20  small  bars  of 
iron,  i  gun,  i  neptune,  i  brass  kettle,  i  coat,  i 
shirt,  i  chair,  i  hat,  2  caps,  i  cutlass,  4  knives, 
i  umbrella,  i  chest,  4  wash  basins,  6  plates,  4 
empty  bottles,  i  keg  of  powder,  i  iron  pot,  i 
brass  pan,  10  brass  rods,  10  pieces  of  cloth,  5 
mugs,  i  small  looking-glass,  i  jug,  4  pins,  5 
needles,  5  fish  hooks,  2  razors,  2  pairs  of  scissors, 
8  bunches  of  small  beads,  3. pairs  of  earrings,  i 
pocket  knife,  3  padlocks  and  keys,  4  pipes,  10 
heads  of  tobacco,  i  piece  of  cloth  for  her  mother, 
i  silk  handkerchief,  i  small  bell,  i  tumbler." 
This  must  have  been  a  valuable  woman  !  The 
list,  too,  illustrates  the  ingenious  but  cumbersome 
currency  of  the  country. 

This  district  of  Africa  is  peopled  by  various 
tribes,  with  different  dialects.  The  Benga, 
Mpongwe,  Fang,  Bule,  and  Dikele,  were  reduced 
to  written  languages  by  the  missionaries.  The 
New  Testament  and  parts  of  the  Old  are  printed 
in  Benga  and  Mpongwe,  and  the  gospels  in  Bule. 
Scores  of  other  dialects  exist,  and  also  a  perfect 
tangle  of  tribes  and  social  prejudices.  The  Fang 
are  the  most  warlike,  and  are  slowly  passing  down 
from  the  interior  to  the  coast.  That  seems  to  be 
the  historic  course.  Once  on  the  coast,  the  tribe 
dwindles.  This  has  been  the  history  of  the  Di- 
kele and  the  Mpongwe  and  of  the  Benga,  per- 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    AFRICA  3! 

haps.  There  are  not  more  than  two  thousand 
left,  on  the  testimony  of  Mr.  Ibea,  the  native 
minister  at  Corisco,  "  a  splendidly  built,  square- 
shouldered  man,  a  pure  Benga  of  the  finest  type, 
full  of  energy  and  enthusiasm."  l 

Missionary  work  in  the  Gaboon  district  was  be- 
gun in  1842,  by  some  missionaries  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions, 
with  which  many  of  the  Presbyterian  churches 
were  cooperating.  These  missionaries  had  gone 
to  Liberia  seven  years  before,  but  after  some 
reverses  decided  to  move  south,  with  a  view  to 
reaching  the  interior  of  the  Congo  region.  The 
new  field  expanded  and  the  work  met  with  such 
success  that,  after  seven  years,  opposition  and 
persecution  fell  upon  the  native  converts.  When 
the  Old  and  New  School  branches  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  were  united,  and  the  latter  trans- 
ferred their  missionary  activity  from  the  American 
Board  to  the  Board  of  the  united  Church,  the 
work  at  Gaboon  was  handed  over  to  the  Presby- 
terian Board,  and  was  combined  with  the  work  of 
the  latter  at  Corisco.  This  Corisco  work  had  been 
established  in  1850  on  an  island  five  miles  long 
and  three  miles  wide  and  about  fifteen  miles  from 
the  mainland.  It  was  hoped  that  white  missionaries 
would  find  this  island  more  healthful  than  the  coast, 
and  be  able  to  train  native  workers  here  for  the 
interior.  Four  stations  were  established  on  the 
island.  It  was  found,  however,  that  the  island 
was  no  more  free  from  fever  than  the  coast,  that 
the  work  on  the  mainland  suffered  from  the  ab- 
sence of  the  missionaries,  and  that  the  native 
helpers  were  prevented  by  tribal  wars  from  doing 
the  wide-reaching  work  anticipated.  Accordingly, 
the  four  stations  were  consolidated  and  the  white 
missionaries  removed  in  time  to  the  mainland. 

1  Miss  Kingsley,  Travels  in  West  Africa,  p.  399  f. 


32  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

The  Rev.  Ibea  J'Ikenge,  the  first  convert  on  the 
island,  continues  in  charge  of  the  work,  which  in- 
cludes two  congregations  that  have  built  their 
own  chapels,  and  which  has  shaped  the  moral 
tone  of  the  whole  island.  This  work  at  Corisco, 
and  so  in  a  real  sense  the  work  which  grew  out 
of  it,  was  established  by  the  Rev.  James  L. 
Mackey,  whose  Presbytery  would  not  sanction 
his  going  to  Africa,  but  who  could  not  be  pre- 
vented. "One  member  asked  me,"  he  said, 
"  '  Have  you  determined  to  throw  away  your  life? 
Go  to  Africa  and  you  will  lay  your  bones  on  her 
sands  with  the  multitudes  who  have  gone  before 
you,  and  who  should  be  a  warning  to  you.'  An- 
other said,  'Well,  I  admire  your  spirit,  but  I 
foresee  you  are  throwing  away  your  life.' '  And 
such  was  the  almost  unanimous  expression  of  the 
members.  A  great  change  has  passed  over  the 
Church  since  then.  Before  he  reached  Corisco, 
Mrs.  Mackey  died.  A  few  months  later  his  as- 
sociate and  his  wife  were  lost  at  sea  in  a  typhoon, 
but  he  took  up  his  work  undaunted  and  alone. 

The  first  station  occupied  on  the  mainland  was 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Benito  River,  at  Mbade,  one 
hundred  and  ten  miles  north  of  the  equator. 
George  Paull,  who  opened  this  station,  died  within 
one  year  of  reaching  Africa.  He  was  one  of 
those  many  heroes  among  the  missionaries  of  the 
Church  who  have  not  been  made  conspicuous  be- 
fore the  world,  but  who  with  the  finest  courage 
and  devotion  have  done  their  work  like  men,  and 
paid  for  it  in  life  laid  down  without  a  murmur 
or  complaint.  One  of  his  classmates  wrote  of 
him  :  "  I  have  read  of  the  heavenly-mindedness 
of  Edwards  and  Payson  and  Martyn  and  Brain- 
erd,  and  of  the  singleness  of  their  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  God  ;  but  I  never  witnessed  a  living  il- 
lustration of  such  exalted  attainments  in  the  <li- 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    AFRICA  33 

vine  life,  until  it  was  my  privilege  to  be  the 
hourly  companion  and  friend  of  George  Paull." 
One  of  his  last  intelligent  utterances  on  his  death- 
bed was:  "Oh,  for  more  consecration  to  the 
cause  of  Christ !  I  wish  only  to  cast  myself  at 
his  feet,  and  feel  that  he  is  my  all."  When  he 
died,  his  Presbytery  in  Pennsylvania  (Redstone) 
could  say  of  him  :  "In  the  life  and  labors  of  our 
departed  brother  we  recognize  a  spirit  akin  to 
that  of,  a  Brainerd,  an  Eliot,  a  Schwartz,  akin  to 
the  spirit  of  Him  who  said,  '  The  zeal  of  thine 
house  hath  eaten  me  up ' — a  zeal  for  the  salva- 
tion of  bleeding  Africa,  which  prematurely  and 
almost  literally  consumed  the  vessel  in  which 
it  burned  ;  a  love  for  the  souls  of  men  and 
the  glory  of  God  which  many  waters  could  not 
quench,  which  quailed  at  no  sacrifice,  however 
great,  and  which  could  say  with  the  great  apostle- 
missionary  to  the  Gentiles,  '  Neither  count  I  my 
life  dear  unto  myself  so  that  I  might  finish  my 
course  with  joy  and  the  ministry  which  I  have  re- 
ceived of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  testify  the  gospel  of 
the  grace  of  God.'"1  Crowned  in  Palm-Land, 
by  Dr.  Nassau,  is  the  story  of  another  life  that 
was  laid  down  in  the  early  days  in  the  Benito 
district,  and  a  picture  of  the  trials  and  joys  of 
those  days  of  loneliness ;  and  it  was  at  Benito  that 
Cornelius  DeHeer  labored  until  his  death  in  1889, 
after  thirty-three  years'  work  in  Africa. 

The  Ogowe  district  was  occupied  in  1874,  by 
the  Rev.  R.  H.  Nassau,  M.  D.,  who  established 
a  station  at  Belambila,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  inland  from  the  mouth  of  the  Ogowe.  The 
station  was  removed,  because  of  tribal  jealousies, 
to  Kangwe,  near  the  French  Government  Post  at 
Lembarene,  and  Miss  Isabella  A.  Nassau,  the 
first  white  woman  to  enter  the  Ogowe,  joined  her 
1  Rankin,  Missionary  Memorials,  p.  269. 


34  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

brother  here.  "This  location  was  chosen  in  the 
consistent  pursuance  of  what  has  been  ever  the 
objective  point  of  the  mission,  the  interior.  The 
failure  to  find  a  path  via  either  the  Gaboon,  the 
Muni  (at  Corisco),  or  the  Benito,  led  to  the  at- 
tempt of  the  Ogowe,  whose  entrance  had  recently 
been  forced  by  trading  steamers.  This  attempt 
was  stimulated  by  the  very  general  feeling  in  the 
home  churches  that  our  duty  was  unfulfilled  un- 
less an  immediate  advance  was  made  interior- 
ward."1  From  the  beginning  the  eyes  of  the 
Church  at  home  had  been  toward  the  interior. 
In  1833,  the  secretary  of  the  Western  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  wrote:  "To  Western  and 
eventually  Central  Africa  this  Society  has  from 
the  beginning  looked,  as  one  of  the  principal 
fields  of  its  intended  operations."  It  was  hoped 
that  at  last  the  mission  might  advance  up  the 
Ogowe.  De  Brazza,  the  French  explorer,  had 
shown  that  the  sources  of  the  Ogowe  lay  near 
streams  which  flowed  into  the  Congo.  The  plan 
was  conceived  of  forming  a  chain  of  stations 
from  Kangwe  to  the  Congo  basin.  This  was 
abandoned,  however,  after  it  was  discovered  how 
far  the  regulations  of  the  French  Government 
were  likely  to  impede  the  work.  The  require- 
ment that  education  should  be  carried  on  not  in 
the  vernacular  but  in  French,  indicated  that  the 
work  could  be  much  better  done  by  French  so- 
cieties ;  and  accordingly,  all  this  field  on  the 
Ogowe  was  transferred  in  1892  and  1893,  with 
some  temporary  provisional  aid  to  the  Societe  des 
Missions  Evangeliques  of  Paris,  which  has  since 
conducted  it  most  successfully.  It  is  in  praise  of 
the  home  and  work  of  M.  and  Mme.  Jacot,  two 
missionaries  transferred  with  the  work,  that  Miss 
Kingsley  is  speaking  when  she  writes,  "I  daily 
1  Historical  Sketches,  p.  21. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    AFRICA  35 

sa\v  there  what  it  is  possible  to  do,  even  in  the 
wildest  and  most  remote  regions  of  West  Africa, 
and  recognized  that  there  is  still  one  heroic  form 
of  human  being  whose  praise  has  never  adequately 
been  sung,  namely,  the  missionary's  wife."  l  The 
only  stations  in  the  French  Congo  now  con- 
nected with  our  Church  are  at  Libreville,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Gaboon,  and  at  Angom  on  the 
Como,  the'  northern  branch  of  the  Gaboon,  from 
which  the  great  Fang  tribe  is  easily  accessible, 
and  where  Mr.  Marling  died  as  he  had  lived,  for 
the  Fang. 

Hope  of  entering  the  interior  through  French 
territory  having  been  abandoned,  the  Mission  be- 
gan to  plan  to  go  in  from  Batanga  through  land 
under  the  German  flag,  where  the  restrictions 
were  fewer  and  less  irksome,  the  German  Govern- 
ment not  forbidding  teaching  in  the  vernacular, 
but  only  requiring  that  German  also  shall  be 
taught  at  the  coast.  Batanga  had  been  an  out- 
station  of  Benito,  but  was  occupied  by  the  Rev. 
B.  B.  Brier  and  his  wife,  in  1889.  The  Rev. 
A.  C.  Good,  Ph.  D.,  who  had  been  in  Africa 
since  1882,  joined  the  station  in  1892,  and  under- 
took the  work  of  interior  exploration.  Passing 
entirely  through  the  forest  belt  he  selected  the 
first  inland  station,  a  hill  about  seventy  miles 
from  Batanga,  and  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
feet  above  sea  level,  called  Efulen.  A  second 
station  was  located  at  Elat,  about  seventy-five 
miles  east  of  Efulen,  but  before  it  could  be 
opened,  Dr.  Good,  while  still  planning  further 
journeys,  was  seized  with  fever  and  died,  having 
in  the  quaint  words  of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon, 
"in  a  short  time  fulfilled  a  long  time."  Besides 
his  direct  and  indefatigable  missionary  work,  Dr. 
Good  was  an  untiring  entomologist.  Dr.  Hol- 
1  Travels  in  West  Africa,  p.  133. 


36  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

land,  to  whom  he  sent  his  collections,  says  that  he 
had  discovered  fully  a  thousand  species  new  to 
science,  and  adds  :  "  This  is  better  work  than 
has  been  done  by  any  other  explorer  of  African 
territory,  without  exception.  I  am  familiar  with 
everything  that  has  been  written  upon  the  natural 
history  of  Africa,  and  am  certain  that  no  one  on 
African  soil  has  ever  shown  such  power  alike  as 
collector  and  investigator." 

On  one  of  his  journeys,  Dr.  Good  met  with  a 
village  of  the  Dwarfs,  and  wrote  an  account  of 
this  odd  people  which  was  published  in  The 
Church  at  Home  and  Abroad,  January,  1894. 
Miss  Elizabeth  MacLean,  of  Glasgow,  read  this, 
and  having  long  felt  an  interest  in  the  Dwarfs, 
she  proposed  to  establish  a  station,  and  to  send 
out  missionaries  to  attempt  to  reach  the  nomads. 
The  result  was  the  location  of  missionaries  at 
Lolodorf  in  Kamerun,  who  are  trying  to  find  and 
influence  this  migratory  people,  of  whom  Dr. 
Good  wrote  in  his  article  : — 

"They  attach  themselves  to  some  town  of  the 
Fang,  Mabea,  or  any  other  tribe  occupying  the 
country  in  which  they  wish  to  live  and  hunt. 
They  are  very  skillful  hunters,  and  if  there  is 
game  to  be  had  they  will  get  it.  When  they  are 
hungry  for  vegetable  food  they  take  the  game 
they  have  killed  to  the  town  to  which  they  have 
attached  themselves,  and  exchange  it  for  the  food 
they  want.  This  arrangement  seems  so  satis- 
factory to  both  parties,  that  often  a  family  of 
Dwarfs  will  maintain  such  an  alliance  with  a  town 
of  their  stronger  neighbors  for  generations.  The 
Dwarfs  are  themselves  a  timid  and  harmless  peo- 
ple; at  least  this  is  true  of  those  found  in  this 
section  of  Africa.  They  never  pretend  to  fight 
for  their  rights,  so  I  am  assured.  When  the  peo- 
ple to  whom  they  have  attached  themselves  do 


THE   MISSIONS   IN   AFRICA  37 

them  a  wrong  which  they  are  disposed  to  resent, 
they  simply  move  away  and  seek  an  alliance  with 
some  other  town  where  they  will  receive  better 
treatment.  But  it  is  considered  an  advantage  to 
have  them  as  neighbors,  so  I  am  assured  that  they 
are  generally  well  treated.  Their  towns  are  not 
permanent,  however,  and  their  dwellings  are  only 
sheds,  covered  with  leaves,  which  they  occupy 
while  the  game  in  the  neighborhood  lasts.  They 
are  so  constantly  moving  from  place  to  place  that 
even  their  friends  hardly  know  sometimes  where 
to  find  them." 

The  story  of  the  missions  in  Africa  has  been 
full  of  sadness  and  tragedy,  full  also  of  triumph 
and  gladness.  From  the  days  of  Albert  Bush- 
nell, — gentle,  refined,  courteous,  popular  every- 
where and  respected  highly  among  the  French 
naval  officers  on  the  coast,  smiling  genially  to  his 
friends  as  he  sailed  last  from  New  York,  in  1880, 
though  he  knew  he  would  never  come  back,  and 
dying  before  he  reached  his  field  again, — and  of 
George  McQueen, — who,  as  he  died,  said  to  his 
schoolboys:  "I  came  from  America  to  tell  you 
these  things  of  God.  I  have  lived  as  a  light 
among  you.  You  must  tell  your  people  these 
things  and  live  as  lights  among  them,"  and  then 
sank  under  the  fever, — down  to  the  last  young 
missionaries  who  have  passed  away  within  a  few 
months  of  reaching  the  field,  the  workers  have 
fallen  too  fast ;  but  without  lamenting  that  they 
had  given  their  lives  ''to  heal  the  world's  open 
sore."  It  has  been  a  deadly  climate.  Of  the 
one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  white  missionaries 
who  have  gone  out  from  the  beginning,  twelve 
have  died  and  not  a  few  others  returned  within 
one  year.  The  average  service  has  been  seven 
years.  On  the  other  hand,  there  have  been  some 
who  have  lived  and  toiled  long, — Dr.  Nassau  for 


38  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

thirty-nine  years,  Mrs.  Ogden  for  twenty-one 
years,  Mrs.  DeHeer  for  thirty-eight  years,  Miss 
Nassau  for  thirty-two  years,  Mrs.  Reutlinger  for 
thirty-four  years,  and  all  these  are  still  living  and 
working  actively  for  Africa,  and  have  not  fallen 
yet  before  the  fever  that  comes  up  in  that  "soft 
white  mist  rolling  low  and  rreeping  and  crawl- 
ing out  from  the  lagoons  .  .  .  stretching  out 
from  under  the  bushes  .  .  .  now  raising  it- 
self up  into  peaks,  now  crouching  down  .  .  . 
and  sending  out  long  white  arms  and  feelers 
.  .  .  and  then  drawing  them  back  as  if  it 
were  some  spirit-possessed  thing,  poisonous  and 
malignant." 

And  why  do  the  missionaries  run  these  risks  ? 
What  religion  are  they  endeavoring  to  displace 
with  Christ's?  The  lowest  of  all  religions,  simple 
fetichism,  the  fear  of  evil  spirits,  the  enslavement 
of  life  by  superstitious  rules,  bondage  to  charms, 
witchcraft.  The  people  have  a  great  god,  An- 
zambi,  who  made  all  things,  but  who  now  takes 
no  interest  in  what  he  has  made.  Instead  the 
world  is  full  of  spirits  who  "  take  only  too  much 
interest,"  and  need  to  be  kept  away  in  some 
fashion,  so  that  religion  is  a  desire  to  escape  from 
the  influence  of  these  spirits,  and  the  perpetual 
prayer  is:  "Go  away;  we  do  not  want  you. 
Come  not  into  this  plantation,  this  village,  this 
house."  To  such  people  Christianity  is  a  gospel, 
a  glad  tidings,  the  message  that  Anzambi  does 
care  and  love,  and  that  in  his  care  and  love  no 
evil  thing  can  terrify  or  harm.  Missionaries 
have  always  been  willing  and  will  always  be  will- 
ing to  lay  down  life  gladly  to  teach  this  gospel  to 
Africa,  and  to  guide  the  simple  children  of  Africa 
into  ways  of  sobriety,  industry,  righteousness,  and 
peace.  As  we  think  of  their  sufferings,  may  we 
not  say  of  them  what  Miss  Kingsley  says  of  the 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    AFRICA  39 

men  who  made  the  trade? — "  I  trust  that  those  at 
home,  in  England,  will  give  all  honor  to  the  men 
still  working  in  West  Africa,  or  rotting  in  the 
weed-grown,  snake-infested  cemeteries  and  the 
forest  swamps — men  whose  battles  have  been 
fought  out  on  lonely  beaches  far  away  from  home 
and  friends  and  often  from  another  white  man's 
help,  sometimes  with  savages,  but  more  often 
with  a  more  deadly  foe,  with  none  of  the  anodyne 
to  death  and  danger  given  by  the  companionship 
of  hundreds  of  fellow- soldiers  in  a  fight  with  a 
foe  you  can  see,  but  with  a  foe  you  can  see  only 
incarnate  in  the  dreams  of  your  delirium,  which 
runs  as  a  poison  in  burning  veins  and  aching 
brain — the  dread  West  Coast  fever."  l 

1  Travels  in  West  Africa,  p.  691. 


THE  MISSIONS  IN  INDIA 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    MISSIONS    IN    INDIA 

THE  first  missionaries  of  the  Church  to  India 
sailed  from  Philadelphia  on  the  "  Star,"  on  the  3oth 
of  May,  1833.  The  party  consisted  of  the  Rev. 
John  C.  Lowrie  and  the  Rev.  William  Reed  and 
their  wives.  "  Never,  it  is  believed,"  says  the 
Second  Annual  Report  of  the  Western  Foreign 
Missionary  Society,  which  sent  them,  "was  the 
mind  of  the  Christian  public  in  that  city  more 
deeply  interested  in  the  foreign  missionary  enter- 
prise." And  Dr.  Irengeus  Prime  has  told  of  the 
crowd  of  students  at  Princeton  Theological  Sem- 
inary, whose  shouts  aroused  him  as  he  lay  sick, 
and  whose  meaning  was  explained  to  him,  when 
he  arose  to  inquire,  by  the  words,  "  Lowrie  is  off 
for  India.'1''  Lowrie  and  Reed  were  the  first 
missionaries  who  offered  their  services  to  go 
abroad,  and  they  were  received  under  the  care  of 
the  Society,  January  16,  1832,  and  the  Presby- 
teries to  which  they  belonged,  New  Castle  and 
Huntingdon,  undertook  their  support.  Leaving 
Philadelphia  on  May  30 th,  of  the  following  year, 
they  reached  Calcutta  on  October  i5th.  Mrs. 
Lowrie  had  been  ill  on  embarking,  and  failed 
rapidly  on  the  voyage.  She  died  and  was  buried 
in  Calcutta  on  November  2ist,  "there  to  pro- 
claim as  she  sleeps  on  India's  distant  shores,"  as 
the  Report  of  the  Society  undauntedly  declares, 
"the  compassion  of  American  Christians  for  its 
millions  of  degraded  idolaters;  and  to  invite 
others  from  her  native  land  to  come  and  prose- 

43 


44  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

cute  the  noble  undertaking  in  which  she  fell." 
Shortly  after,  Mr.  Reed's  health  began  to  fail, 
and  on  July  23d,  1834,  he  and  Mrs.  Reed  sailed 
for  America.  He  died  at  sea,  however,  and  was 
buried  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  near  the  Andaman 
Islands.  The  solitary  survivor  of  this  little  band 
was  not  dismayed,  and  as  soon  as  he  could  wisely 
proceed  he  passed  on  alone  into  the  far  north- 
west, where  no  missionary  had  ever  gone,  to  lay 
there  the  foundations  of  the  great  missions  of  his 
Church. 

Of  course  there  had  been  Protestant  mission- 
aries in  India  for  many  years.  The  first  ones 
were  two  Pietist  students  from  Halle,  Zeigenbalg 
and  Pliitschau,  sent  to  Tranquebar  in  1706,  by 
Frederick  IV.  of  Denmark.  One  of  their  great- 
est successors  was  Schwartz,  a  man  trusted  and 
beloved  by  all,  foreigners  and  natives  alike. 
The  first  American  missionaries  were  the  fruit  of 
the  work  of  the  little  band  that  under  the  shelter 
of  the  haystack  at  Williamstown  resolved  in 
prayer  "to  effect  in  their  own  persons  a  mission 
to  the  heathen."  Judson,  Gordon,  Hall,  and 
Nott,  began  the  work  in  1812,  the  former  in 
Burmah,  arid  Hall  and  Nott  in  Bombay.  To  the 
northwest  of  Benares,  however,  in  the  regions  to 
and  beyond  which  Mr.  Lowrie  desired  to  go, 
there  were  only  five  missionaries,  at  Chunar, 
Allahabad,  Delhi,  Meerut,  and  Agra.  Carey, 
Marshman,  and  Duff,  were  among  the  mission- 
aries Mr.  Lowrie  met  in  Calcutta,  and  they  sym- 
pathized with  his  desire  to  press  on  into  the  un- 
touched fields.  The  home  Church,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Africa  Mission,  was  not  content  with 
small  plans.  Afghanistan,  Kashmir,  and  Thibet, 
were  fields  which  it  expected  to  enter,  and  even 
Eastern  Persia.  There  was  a  great  optimism 
about  the  beginnings  of  our  missionary  enter- 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    INDIA  45 

prise :  some  of  it  not  justified  by  subsequent  ex- 
perience,— for  example,  the  opinion  that  Islam 
was  peculiarly  tolerant  in  the  lands  beyond  India, 
and  that  India  was  on  "  the  eve  of  a  great  revo- 
lution in  its  religious  prospects."  Two  mission- 
aries sailing  in  1837  were  actually  designated  for 
Kashmir  and  Afghanistan.  Yet  it  was  not  a 
careless  or  small-hearted  optimism.  There  was  a 
Christian  large-mindedness  about  all  their  de- 
signs. With  the  party  of  new  missionaries  which 
went  in  1834,  the  Hon.  Walter  Lowrie,  whose 
son  had  established  the  Mission,  sent  a  valuable 
set  of  philosophical  apparatus  for  the  use  of  a 
high  school,  with  the  hope  that  "  by  the  blessing 
of  Heaven  it  might  prove  the  means  of  under- 
mining the  false  systems  of  philosophy  adopted  by 
the  heathen,  and  consequently  their  false  systems 
of  religion,  with  which  their  philosophy  is  inti- 
mately if  not  inseparably  connected." 

With  large-minded  ambition,  fashioned  after 
that  of  the  great  apostle  who  ma.de  it  his  aim  to 
preach  the  gospel  not  where  Christ  had  already 
been  named,  but  where  no  tidings  of  him  had 
come,  the  lonely  missionary  started  from  Calcutta, 
for  the  far  northwest.  "  There  were  few  facilities 
in  those  days  for  communication  between  one 
part  of  the  country  and  another.  The  Grand 
Trunk  Road,  which  began  at  Calcutta,  and  in  af- 
ter years  extended  all  the  way  to  Peshawur, 
reached,  at  the  time  now  referred  to,  only  as  far 
as  Barrackpore,  a  few  miles  from  Calcutta.  In 
the  absence  of  regular  roads,  such  as  wheeled  car- 
riages require  for  easy  locomotion,  the  first  mis- 
sionaries had  to  make  their  way  up  the  country  in 
palankeens,  or  by  the  more  tedious  process  of 
sailing  up  the  Ganges  in  native  boats,  which,  ex- 
cept when  there  was  a  favorable  wind,  had  to  be 
drawn  by  tow-ropes ;  and  woe  to  the  vessel,  when, 


46  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

through  the  force  of  a  strong  current,  the  rope  hap- 
pened to  break  !  The  time  required  for  such  voy- 
ages had  sometimes  to  be  counted  by  months.  In 
the  rainy  season  the  Ganges  is  navigable  by  na- 
tive boats  as  far  up  as  Garhmuktisar  Ghat,  some 
thirty  miles  from  Meerut.  But  this  is  often  accom- 
plished with  difficulty.  As  an  illustration  of  this 
it  may  he  mentioned,  that  the  second  party  of  our 
missionaries,  having  arrived  in  India  in  the  begin- 
ning of  1835,  sailed  from  Calcutta  on  the  23d  of 
June,  reached  Cawnpore  about  three  months 
later,  were  obliged  then,  on  account  of  the  usual 
fall  in  the  river  at  the  end  of  the  rains,  to  change 
their  boat  for  a  smaller  one,  and  finally  to  stop 
at  Fatehgarh.  From  this  place  the  journey  was 
accomplished  in  a  palankeen  carriage  drawn  by 
oxen.  In  some  .places  the  road  was  fairly  good, 
but  in  others  certainly  bad  enough,  and  inter- 
sected every  now  and  then  by  unbridged  streams. 
Lodiana,  the  place  of  destination,  was  reached  on 
the  8th  of  December;  so  that  the  whole  journey 
from  Calcutta  was  accomplished  in  just  five 
months  and  a  half !  "  1  Lodiana  was  the  city  Mr. 
Lowrie  selected  as  the  first  station.  It  was  one  "of 
the  two  cities  in  this  district  under  the  East  India 
Company,  whose  officers  here  were  very  friendly, 
and  it  was  near  the  center  of  the  Sikh  people,  a 
people  of  fine  physique,  who  were  a  sort  of  re- 
formed Brahmanists,  having  discarded  the  old 
idolatry  and  in  some  measure  broken  the  bands  of 
caste,  and  who,  it  was  hoped,  would  be  open  to 
missionary  influence.2  Mr.  Ix>\vrie  arrived  in  No- 
vember, 1834.  The  first  reinforcement  consisting 
of  the  Rev.  John  Newton  and  the  Rev.  James 
Wilson  and  their  wives,  arrived  in  December, 
1835.  Six  weeks  after  their  arrival,  Mr.  Lowrie, 

1  Newton,  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Lodiana  Mission,^.  I  f. 
*  Ibid,  p.  9. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    INDIA  47 

whose  health  had  been  failing,  was  obliged  to 
leave,  never  to  return. 

It  was  thus  the  Presbyterian  Missions  in  India 
were  begun.  The  India  of  that  day  was  very  dif- 
ferent from  the  India  of  this.  The  British  Gov- 
ernment had  not  formally  taken  over  the  country. 
The  East  India  Company  still  controlled  it,  though 
much  of  the  land  now  under  British  rule  was  in- 
dependent. In  the  northwest,  Oudh  and  Rohil- 
cund  were  under  independent  native  rule.  -Run- 
jeet  Singh  ruled  the  Punjab  north  of  the  Sutlej, 
while  Sindh  was  subject  to  Mohammedan  Nawabs. 
The  Mogul  Emperor  was  still  treated  deferentially 
as  a  king,  though  stripped  of  power  outside  of  his 
own  palace  at  Delhi ;  but  the  old  days  of  native 
power  were  almost  over. 

There  have  been  seven  great  divisions  of  Indian 
history  since  the  aboriginal  times,  (i)  The  Vedic 
Period,  from  perhaps  1000  B.  c.  to  543  B.  c. 
The  Vedas  and  the  two  great  Epics,  the  Maha- 
barata  and  the  Ramayana  tell  of  the  life  of  this 
period,  during  which  the  Aryans  came  down  into 
India  from  their  home  in  Central  Asia.  (2)  The 
Buddhist  Period,  543  B.  c.  to  900  A.  D.,  when  the 
teaching  of  Gautama  became  the  state  religion 
under  Asoka,  King  of  Magadha.  (3)  The  Period 
of  the  Greek,  Bactrian,  and  Scythian  Invasions, 
328  B.  c.  to  500  A.  D.  (4)  The  Brahmanic  and 
Modern  Hindu  Period,  500-1000  A.  D.,  during 
which  Brahmanism  triumphed  over  Buddhism  by 
absorbing  it.  Sankara  Acharja  was  the  great 
teacher  whose  influence  "molded  Brahman  phi- 
losophy into  its  final  form  and  popularized  it  into 
a  national  religion."  (5)  The  Mohammedan 
Period,  1001-1761  A.  D.,  which  ended  in  the 
glorious  reign  of  the  Great  Moguls.  (6)  The 
Maratha  Period,  1650-1818  A.  D.  The  Maratha 
dynasties  were  native,  and  constituted  the  corrupt 


48  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

power  against  which  chiefly  the  European  powers 
advanced.  (7)  The  Period  of  European  Influence 
and  Supremacy,  1500-1900.  The  greatest  power 
at  work  during  this  period  was  the  East  India 
Company,  which  was  a  trading  company  chartered 
by  Queen  Elizabeth  on  the  last  day  of  1600.  In 
1689  it  began  its  policy  of  territorial  conquest, 
and  it  lasted  until  after  the  Sepoy  Rebellion,  when 
in  1858,  it  was  abolished,  and  its  vast  possessions 
passed  under  the  British  Crown. 

Although  India  is  now  a  common  political  or- 
ganization, so  far  as  its  actual  government  by 
Great  Britain  is  concerned,  it  is  not  a  real  unity. 
There  is  no  common  Indian  people.  "The word 
Hindu,"  as  Dr.  John  Newton  says,  "  never  means 
a  native  of  India,  irrespective  of  religion  or 
caste.  .  .  .  The  word  Hindoo  is  never  comprehen- 
sive enough  to  include  Mohammedans  and  Chris- 
tians. It  is  therefore  a  solecism  to  speak  of  a 
Hindu  Christian."  The  India  Census  Report 
calls  the  people  a  "  heterogeneous  mass."  Neither 
is  there  one  Indian  language.  The  last  Census 
reports  not  less  than  one  hundred  languages. 
Eleven  of  these  were  spoken  by  five  million  peo- 
ple or  more,  Hindi  by  eighty-five  million,  in 
round  numbers,  Bengali  by  forty-one  million, 
Telugu  by  twenty  million,  Marathi  by  nineteen 
million,  Punjabi  by  eighteen  million,  Tamil  by 
fifteen  million.  In  addition  to  these  there 
is  the  Urdu  or  Hindustani,  a  kind  of  lingua 
franca.  It  arose  with  the  Moslem  conquest,  and 
is  spoken  throughout  the  country  by  the  Moham- 
medans and  many  Hindus.  It  is  estimated  that 
100,000,000  people  in  India  understand  Hindu- 
stani. 

Still  less  is  a  common  religion  known  in  India. 
Of  the  population  of  276,000,000,  seventy-two 
per  cent  were  returned  by  the  census  as  attached 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    INDIA  49 

to  the  Brahmanic  system.  The  Mohammedans 
numbered  fifty-seven  millions.  These  are  the  two 
great  religious  bodies. 

The  absorptive  power  of  Hinduism  has  been  its 
strength.  It  has  also  made  it  a  vast  curse.  It 
has  spread  "  throughout  India,  not  as  a  reforma- 
tion, but  as  a  conservation.  It  has  taken  ad- 
vantage of  all  existing  superstitions,  however 
gross,  immoral,  and  criminal,  and  supplying  all 
with  a  philosophical  basis  has  crystallized  each 
into  a  hardness  and  given  to  the  whole  a  solidarity 
which  makes  it  now  doubly  difficult  to  attack  any 
one  of  them.  It  has  recognized  and  vindicated 
the  distinctions  of  class  and  tribe,  freezing  all  to- 
gether instead  of  fusing  all  together ;  making  dif- 
ferent classes  of  the  same  village  live  together 
with  fewer  common  sympathies  and  interests  than 
the  French  and  Germans,  making  patriotism  as 
we  understand  it  an  unknown  thing,  nationality 
an  impossibility  for  the  Hindus  till  Hinduism  be 
swept  from  India.  The  only  thing  to  be  said  for 
it  is  that  it  has  conserved  some  good  as  well  as 
evil.  The  law  of  caste  is  more  binding  than  the 
law  of  conscience,  and  where  the  original  custom 
of  a  caste  has  been  good  it  has  been  preserved. 
Many  who  would  not  refuse  to  commit  an  evil  be- 
cause it  is  forbidden  by  God,  would  refuse  be- 
cause it  was  forbidden  by  their  caste.  Thus  the 
restraints  of  caste  have  checked  the  spread  of 
many  vices  through  some  classes  of  society,  and 
have  enabled  them  to  look  on  a  vice  indulged  in  by 
others  and  excuse  them  for  it  as  being  tolerated 
by  their  caste,  without  feeling  tempted  to  indulge 
in  it  for  themselves.  This  has  given  certain 
stamina  to  the  Hindus  which  we  do  not  find  in 
other  idolaters.  But  the  same  thing  that  thus 
checks  change  for  evil  forbids  change  for  good. 
Change  is  the  one  point  on  which  Hinduism  is  in- 


50  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

tolerant.  Let  anyone  ask  a  Hindu  who  has  been 
dilating  on  the  intolerance  of  Christianity  and  the 
tolerance  of  Hinduism,  to  tolerate  one  of  his 
caste-fellows'  practically  carrying  out  his  change 
of  belief  by  change  of  conduct — acknowledging 
the  one  true  God  by  giving  up  the  worship  of  his 
caste  gods,  acknowledging  the  brotherhood  of 
man  by  mingling  and  eating  with  those  of  other 
castes, — and  he  will  find  that  he  has  roused  an  in- 
tolerance as  fierce  and  unbending  as  that  of  the 
Spanish  Inquisition."  1 

The  idea  of  transmigration  Hinduism  took  up 
from  Buddhism,  and  has  bound  it  as  a  millstone 
of  bondage  and  despair  about  the  necks  of  the 
people.  A  book  called  the  Karmavipaka  illustrates 
this.  "  He  who  destroys  a  sacrifice,"  it  declares, 
"  will  be  punished  in  hell,  will  be  born  again  as  a 
fish,  in  which  state  he  will  continue  for  three 
years,  or,  reassuming  the  human  form,  he  will  be 
afflicted  with  disease.  He  who  kills  an  enemy 
conquered  in  war  will  be  cast  into  the  hell 
Krakacha ;  he  will  then  successively  appear  on 
earth  as  a  bull,  a  deer,  a  tiger,  a  bitch,  a  fish,  a 
man  ;  in  his  human  form  he  will  die  of  palsy. 
He  who  eats  excellent  food  without  giving  any  to 
others  will  be  punished  in  hell  for  30,000  years, 
and  then  be  born  as  a  muskrat,  a  deer,  and  then 
as  a  man  whose  body  emits  an  offensive  smell, 
and  who  prefers  bad  to  good  food,"  etc.2 

Hinduism  as  theoretically  presented  in  America 
is  one  thing.  As  actually  seen  in  India  it  is  an- 
other thing.  "  When  I  went  to  the  great  cities  of 
India,"  says  Moncure  Conway,  "  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  real  and  the  ideal  was  heartbreaking. 
In  all  those  teeming  myriads  of  worshipers,  not 

1  Robson,  Hinduism  and  its  Relations  to  Christianity, 
pp.  217-219. 

5  Wilkins,  Modern  Hinduism,  p.  486  f. 


THE   MISSIONS   IN    INDIA  51 

one  man,  not  even  one  woman,  seemed  to  enter- 
tain the  shadow  of  a  conception  of  anything  ideal, 
or  spiritual,  or  religious,  or  even  mythological,  in 
their  ancient  creed.  .  .  .  To  all  of  them  the 
great  false  god  which  they  worshiped — a  hulk  of 
roughly  carved  wood  or  stone — appeared  to  be 
the  authentic  presentment  of  some  terrible  demon 
or  invisible  power,  who  would  treat  them  cruelly 
if  they  did  not  give  him  some  melted  butter.  Of 
religion  in  a  spiritual  sense  there  is  none.  If  you 
wish  for  religion  you  will  not  find  it  in  Brahman- 
ism."  l 

Mohammedanism  was  of  course  an  importation 
into  India,  and  it  came  in  supported  by  all  the 
force  of  triumphant  and  irresistible  arms,  and  not 
preached  by  true  missionaries.  "  These  military 
adventurers,"  says  Sir  Alfred  C.  Lyall,  "who 
founded  dynasties  in  North  India  and  carved  out  for- 
tunes in  the  Deccan,  cared  little  for  things  spiritual ; 
most  of  them  had,  indeed,  no  time  for  proselytiz- 
ing, being  continually  engaged  in  conquest  and 
civil  war."2  There  came  in  due  time,  however, 
real  missionaries,  and  to-day  Mohammedanism  is 
spread,  as  it  has  always  been,  by  the  indefatigable 
work  of  its  adherents,  not  professional  preachers 
only.  "  In  a  list  of  Indian  missionaries  published 
in  the  journal  of  a  religious  and  philanthropic  so- 
ciety of  Lahore,  we  find  the  names  of  schoolmas- 
ters, government  clerks  in  the  Canal  and  Opium 
Departments,  traders  including  a  dealer  in  camel 
carts,  an  editor  of  a  newspaper,  a  bookbinder,  and 
a  workman  in  a  printing  establishment.  These 
men  devote  the  hours  of  leisure  left  them  after  the 
completion  of  the  days'  labor,  to  the  preaching  of 
their  religion  in  the  streets  and  bazaars  of  Indian 

1  Mitchell,  Hinduism,  Past  and  Present,  p.  22O. 

2  Asiatic  Studies,  p.  284,  London,  '82  ;  Haines,  Islam  as 
a  Missionary  Religion,  p.  89. 


52  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

cities,  seeking  to  win  converts  from  among  Chris- 
tians and  Hindus,  whose  religious  belief  they 
controvert  and  attack."  The  essence  of  Moham- 
medanism is  in  the  Kalama,  "  There  is  one  God 
and  Mohammed  is  his  Prophet."  The  five  ele- 
ments of  the  faith  are,  the  Kalama,  prayer,  alms, 
pilgrimage,  and  fasting.  And  there  .is  undeniably 
something  bracing  in  its  resolute  uncompromising 
spirit.  As  to  its  influence  on  its  adherents  as 
compared  with  Hinduism,  opinions  differ.  "  If 
proud  and  haughty,"  says  Rees,  "the  Indian 
Moslems  are  none  the  less  temperate,  brave,  and 
charitable,  generally  speaking,  admirable  in  the 
domestic  relations  of  life,  and  for  the  most  part 
husbands  of  one  wife,  and  innocent  of  the  vices 
characteristic  of  a  corrupt  civilization."  *  Others 
hold  that  the  moral  state  of  the  Mohammedans  is 
worse  than  that  of  the  Hindus,  that  Islam  is  a 
sort  of  sink,  with  a  free  brotherhood  for  all  who 
may  have  lost  their  position  elsewhere,  and  that  in 
some  parts  of  India,  when  women  want  to  take  up 
evil  lives,  they  place  themselves  under  the  shelter 
of  Mohammedan  law. 

Life  is  far  enough  from  ideal  under  either  Mo- 
hammedanism or  Hinduism.  As  to  the  influence 
of  the  former  upon  the  position  of  woman,  Sir 
Wm.  Muir  has  said  that  it  leaves  her  "an  in- 
ferior, dependent  creature  destined  only  for  the 
service  of  her  master."  She  "possessed  more 
freedom  and  exercised  a  healthier  and  more  legit- 
imate influence  under  the  pagan  institutions  of 
Arabia  before  the  time  of  Mohammed  than  under 
the  influence  of  Islam."  And  as  for  Hinduism, 
making  all  qualifications  for  any  exaggeration  due 
to  excessive  earnestness,  no  testimony  can  be 
clearer  or  more  authoritative  than  the  words  of 

1  Arnold,  The  Preaching  of  Islam,  p.  333. 

2  The  Alohammedans,  p.  176. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    INDIA  53 

Keshub  Chunder  Sen,  addressed  to  his  country- 
men :  "Look  at  yourselves,  enchained  to  cus- 
toms, deprived  of  freedom,  lorded  over  by  an 
ignorant  and  crafty  priesthood,  your  better  sense 
and  better  feelings  all  smothered  under  the  crush- 
ing weight  of  custom.  Look  at  your  homes, 
scenes  of  indescribable  misery ;  your  wives  and 
sisters,  your  mothers  and  daughters,  immured 
within  the  dungeon  of  the  zenana ;  ignorant  of 
the  outside  world,  little  better  than  slaves,  whose 
charter  of  liberty  of  thought  and  action  has  been 
ignored.  Look  at  your  social  constitution  and 
customs,  the  mass  of  enervating,  demoralizing  and 
degrading  curses  they  are  working.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  root  of  all  evils  which  afflict 
Hindu  society,  that  which  constitutes  the  chief 
cause  of  its  degradation,  is  idolatry.  Idolatry 
is  the  curse  of  Hinduism,  the  deadly  canker  that 
has  eaten  into  the  vitals  of  native  society."  Or 
the  declaration  of  Iswar  Chandra  Vidyasagar,  C. 
I.  E.  :  "  An  adequate  idea  of  the  intolerable  hard- 
ships of  early  widowhood  can  be  formed  by  those 
only  whose  daughters,  sisters,  daughters-in-law, 
and  other  female  relations,  have  been  deprived  of 
their  husbands  during  infancy.  When  men  are 
void  of  pity  and  compassion,  of  a  perception 
of  right  and  wrong,  of  good  and  evil,  and 
consider  the  observance  of  mere  forms  as  the 
highest  of  duties  and  the  greatest  of  virtues,  in 
such  a  country  would  that  women  were  never 
born !  Woman !  in  India  thy  lot  is  cast  in 
misery."  It  is  well  to  add  the  testimony  of  Raj 
Ram  Mohun  Roy,  founder  of  the  Brahmo  Somaj, 
in  answer  to  the  contention  that  the  Hindus  do 
not  really  worship  their  idols,  but  only  the  one 
omnipresent  Deity  symbolized  in  the  idol.  "  I 
have  observed,"  he  said,  "  that  both  in  their  writ- 
ings and  in  their  conversation,  many  Europeans 


54  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

feel  a  wish  to  palliate  and  soften  the  features  of 
Hindu  idolatry,  and  are  inclined  to  indicate  that 
all  objects  of  worship  are  considered  by  their  vo- 
taries as  emblematical  representations  of  the  su- 
preme Deity.  If  this  were  indeed  the  case,  I 
might  perhaps  be  led  into  some  examination  of 
the  subject;  but  the  truth  is,  the  Hindus  of  the 
present  day  have  no  such  views  of  the  subject, 
but  firmly  believe  in  the  real  existence  of  the  in- 
numerable gods  and  goddesses,  who  possess,  in 
their  own  departments,  full  and  independent 
power ;  and  to  propitiate  them,  and  not  the  true 
God,  are  temples  erected  and  ceremonies  per- 
formed." 

Though  superstitious  and  bigoted,  the  people 
of  India  are  a  kindly  people,  "respectful  toward 
their  superiors,  patient  and  even-tempered,  re- 
signed, peaceable,  simple  and  temperate  in  their 
habits,  possessed  of  great  fortitude  under  disaster, 
and  industrious.  On  the  other  hand,  they  lack 
truthfulness,  are  wanting  in  frankness  and  are 
avaricious,  ultra -conservative,  lacking  in  fore- 
sight, and  superstitious.  Some  of  these  charac- 
teristics are  not  strictly  moral  in  our  view,  but 
they  are  to  the  Hindu,  of  whom  it  is  said,  '  They 
eat  religiously,  drink  religiously,  bathe  religiously, 
dress  religiously,  and  sin  religiously.' '  About 
sixty  per  cent  of  the  people  are  farmers.  Ninety 
per  cent  of  the  population  is  a  rural  population. 
According  to  the  last  census  less  than  five  per 
cent  of  the  people  lived  in  two  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  towns  of  more  than  20,000  popula- 
tion. In  Great  Britain  fifty-three  per  cent  live 
in  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  cities  of  more  than 
20,000  population.  There  were  at  the  same 
census  715,514  villages  in  India.  The  dense  pop- 
ulation,  the  too  frequent  droughts,  the  primitive 
superficial  methods  of  agriculture,  the  want  of 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    INDIA  55 

fertilizer  through  the  consumption  of  manure  as 
fuel, — all  affect  the  harvests  and  leave  the  people 
with  a  margin  of  supply  so  narrow  that  the  failure 
of  one  crop  means  famine  to  many  in  a  land 
where,  according  to  Sir  Wm.  Hunter,  40,000,000 
live  on  one  meal  a  day,  and  unnumbered  multi- 
tudes lie  down  to  sleep  hungry  every  night. 

Two  religious  bodies  smaller  than  the  Hindus 
and  Mohammedans  should  be  mentioned :  the 
Jains  who  conform  to  the  letter  of  the  edicts  of 
King  Asoka, — "  Meritorious  is  obedience  toward 
father  and  mother,  toward  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances, meritorious  is  liberality,  meritorious  is  ab- 
stention from  reviling  the  heterodox,  and  merito- 
rious the  abstention  from  killing  live  creatures," 
and,  as  usual  with  literalists  and  formalists,  exalt- 
ing some  detail  into  the  chief  place,  they  wear  res- 
pirators lest  in  breathing  they  suck  down  some 
insect,  and  carefully  brush  the  ground  where 
they  sit  down,  lest  some  be  killed  ;  and  the  Sikhs, 
whose  creed  is  pure  deism,  blended  with  both 
Moslem  and  Hindu  beliefs.  Nanak  Shah  was 
their  leader,  and  his  hope  was  to  reconcile  Hin- 
duism and  Islam.  It  was  a  Sikh  fanatic  who 
murdered  the  Rev.  Levi  Janvier,  D.  D.,  in  1864, 
at  Lodiana,  just  after  he  had  celebrated,  with 
some  of  his  associates,  the  Lord's  Supper.  Dr. 
Janvier  was  a  fine  linguist,  and  had,  with  his 
cousin,  Dr.  Newton,  prepared  a  dictionary  of  the 
Punjabi  language  which  was  published  in  1854. 

Among  these  Sikhs  at  Lodiana,  but  also  among 
Hindus  and  Mohammedans,  the  work  was  solidly 
established  in  1835,  by  the  coming  of  Mr.  New- 
ton and  Mr.  Wilson.  The  following  year  a  larger 
reinforcement  was  sent,  including  three  laymen 
sent  out  with  the  hope  that  "these  brethren  by 
spending  a  few  of  the  first  years  of  their  mission- 
ary labors  as  teachers  in  the  higher  departments 


56  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

of  education  in  India,  might  promote  the  great 
object  of  its  evangelization  as  effectually  as  any 
other."  Two  printing  presses  and  fonts  of  type 
were  sent,  also,  and  a  practical  printer  was  sent  out 
in  1838,  who,  in  six  years,  trained  native  men  who 
carried  on  the  press  work  after  he  had  withdrawn. 
In  1836,  a  station  was  opened  at  Saharanpur, 
one  hundred  and  eleven  miles  southeast  of  Lodi- 
ana,  on  the  invitation  of  the  British  Collector  and 
Magistrate,  who  arranged  for  the  purchase  of  a 
large  house  for  Rs.  400.  The  large  purposes  of 
the  Church  in  the  work  are  illustrated  by  the  Re- 
port of  the  Society  for  1835,  describing  the 
reasons  for  occupying  this  field  :  "Saharanpur, 
distant  1 30  miles  southeast  from  Lodiana,  100  miles 
north  of  Delhi,  is  situated  within  twenty  miles  of 
Hurdwar,  that  great  rendezvous  of  pilgrims  from 
all  the  surrounding  nations.  The  annual  fair  at 
Hurdwar  is  attended  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
all  classes ;  and  hitherto,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  transient  visits  of  a  single  missionary  from 
Delhi,  Satan  has  had  the  undisputed  possession  of 
this  great  field  to  himself.  No  place  affords  more 
advantages  for  the  dissemination  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures  and  religious  publications  than  the  fair 
at  Hurdwar.  From  this  point  they  will  be  carried 
into  the  surrounding  countries,  and  to  all  parts  of 
Northern  India,  and  even  to  the  tribes  beyond 
Kashmir,  inhabitating  the  high  table-lands  of 
Central  Asia."1 

The  next  station  was  Sabathu,  no  miles  east 
of  Lodiana,  and  4,000  feet  above  the  sea, 
where  the  temperature  seldom  rises  above  90° 
Fah.  and  rarely  falls  low  enough  for  snow.  It 
was  deemed  desirable  to  have  one  such  station  so 
healthfully  located,  even  though  the  surrounding 
population  was  not  as  dense  as  on  the  plains,  and 
1  Green,  Presbyterian  Missions,  Lowrie's  notes,  p.  160. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    INDIA  57 

hopes  were  entertained,  subsequently  disappointed, 
that  the  Hill  tribes  would  prove  simple-minded 
and  teachable,  and  yield  readily  to  the  gospel. 

1111836  work  was  begun  in  Allahabad,  in  1838 
in  Fatehgarh,  and  in  1843  in  Mainpurie  and  Fur- 
rukhabad  ;  but  these  will  be  spoken  of  more  con- 
veniently in  connection  with  the  Furrukhabad 
Mission,  which  embraces  the  stations  in  the  North- 
west Provinces,  save  Dehra  and  Saharanpur, 
which,  with  all  the  stations  in  the  Punjab,  com- 
pose the  Lodiana  Mission.  The  next  station  oc- 
cupied was  Jullunder,  in  1847.  The  work  was  be- 
gun by  Mr.  Goloknath,  the  first  convert  and  min- 
ister of  our  Church  in  India.  He  was  a  Brahman, 
and  son  of  a  tea  merchant  in  Calcutta.  He  had 
been  a  pupil  in  the  school  of  Dr.  Duff,  who  had 
come  to  India  in  1830,  and  he  had  become  so  inter- 
ested in  Christianity  that  he  could  not  stay  at 
home  happily,  and  wandered  off  to  the  North- 
west. He  was  then  nineteen,  and  he  appeared  in 
Lodiana  at  the  door  of  the  Mission  house,  well 
dressed,  very  respectable  in  appearance,  and  with 
a  small  English  Bible  in  his  hand.  He  and  his 
wife  are  still  living,  after  more  than  sixty  years  of 
noble  service.  Jullunder  was  the  first  station  oc- 
cupied beyond  the  river  Sutlej  in  the  Punjab 
proper,  which  the  missionaries  had  from  the  be- 
ginning desired  to  enter.  The  Punjab  includes 
now  the  whole  northwestern  corner  of  India  be- 
yond the  Northwest  Provinces  up  to  Afghanistan. 
The  Northwest  Provinces  received  their  name  be- 
fore British  rule  was  extended  beyond  the  Sutlej. 
The  Punjab  is  a  great  plain  intersected  by  five 
large  rivers,  the  Sutlej,  the  Beeas,  the  Ravee,  the 
Chenab,  and  the  Jhelum,  these  rivers  giving  its 
name  to  the  country, — The  Punjab,  that  is  The 
Five  Waters.  The  population  of  the  Punjab  is 
now  about  twenty-one  millions.  It  is  made  up  of 


58  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Mohammedans  and  Hindus  about  equally,  in- 
cluding, among  the  latter,  the  Sikhs,  someof  whom, 
however,  scorn  to  be  called  Hindus,  and  the  Out- 
castes,  who  have  scarcely  any  religion,  and  are 
called  "some  of  them  Ramdassies  (followers  of 
Ramdass)  and  some  Muzkubies  (people  having  a 
religion),  according  to  the  grade  of  outcastes  to 
which  they  originally  belonged."  "  The  Hindus, 
on  account  perhaps  of  their  long  intercourse  with 
Mohammedans  (most  of  whose  ancestors  were 
themselves  Hindus)  and  on  account  of  their  sub- 
jection, successively,  for  many  centuries,  to  Mo- 
hammedan and  Sikh  rule,  are  less  bigoted  than 
their  brethren  in  some  other  parts  of  India,  and 
they  have  not  so  strong  a  caste  feeling."  * 

The  Punjab  had  been  divided  among  a  num- 
ber of  independent  princes,  but  Runjeet  Singh, 
"The  Lion  of  the  Punjab,"  at  the  time  the 
Mission  was  founded,  ruled  the  whole  from 
Lahore.  Mr.  Lowrie  had  not  been  long  in  Lo- 
diana  when  Runjeet  Singh  invited  him  to  visit 
him.  Mr.  Lowrie  accepted  the  invitation  and 
was  the  Maharajah's  guest  for  several  weeks, 
treated  with  every  courtesy.  The  Maharajah's 
object  was  to  have  a  school  established  in  Lahore 
for  the  English  education  of  the  sons  of  the 
nobles.  Mr.  Lowrie  insisted,  however,  that  he 
could  not  undertake  it  without  including  the 
teaching  of  Christianity,  and  the  plan  failed,  * 
though  the  Maharajah  sent  the  missionary  away 
in  splendor,  and  was  greatly  astonished  when  he 
learned  that  the  splendid  present  he  gave,  consist- 

1  Newton,  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Lodiana  Mission,  p.  6. 

2  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  Duleep  Singh,  the  son 
of  Runjeet  Singh,  became  a  Christian,  and  was  a  generous 
contributor  through    the    Mission  to  the  poor  in  Lahore, 
and  gave  a  large  sum  toward  the  erection  of  the  church 
at  Rakha. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    INDIA  59 

ing  of  a  horse,  pieces  of  silk  and  cotton  goods, 
jewelry  and  money,  in  all  more  than  $1,100, 
would  all  be  transferred  to  the  Mission  treasury, 
and  not  kept  for  Mr.  Lowrie's  personal  use. 

This  negotiation  having  failed,  the  missionaries 
were  obliged  to  wait,  no  European  being  allowed  in 
those  days  to  cross  the  Sutlej  without  permission 
from  the  Lahore  Durbar  (court  of  the  chief).  In 
1839,  however,  the  Maharajah  died,  and  the 
country  fell  into  a  state  of  anarchy.  When  at- 
tacks were  made  on  British  territory  south  of  the 
Sutlej,  the  wars  were  begun  which  ended  in  the 
annexation  of  the  Punjab.  The  government  of 
the  new  province  was  in  the  hands  of  a  Board  of 
Administration,  of  which  the  two  most  prominent 
men  were  Henry  and  John  Lawrence,  the  latter 
afterwards  Viceroy,  and  both  splendid  Christian 
men.  Lahore  was  taken  possession  of  in  1849, 
and  before  the  end  of  the  year,  at  the  urgent  re- 
quest of  some  of  the  British  officials,  the  Rev. 
John  Newton  and  his  wife  and  the  Rev.  C.  W. 
Forman  arrived  to  establish  work  in  the  new  field. 
These  two  men  have  left  an  indelible  impress  on 
the  Punjab.  Dr.  Newton  spent  fifty-six  years  in  In- 
dia, and  Dr.  Forman  forty-six,  and  each  of  them 
spent  more  than  a  generation  and  a  half  in  Lahore. 
Dr.  Newton  was  a  powerful  preacher,  both  in  Eng- 
lish and  in  the  vernacular,  and  he  had  a  patience 
and  tact  which  melted  opposition  and  indifference, 
and  won  for  him  and  his  Master  the  admiration 
and  love  of  thousands.  Both  he  and  Dr.  Forman 
were  men  of  exceptionally  powerful  and  spiritual 
personality.  A  missionary  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, recalling  the  effect  produced  upon  his  mind 
by  Dr.  Newton's  reading  a  part  of  the  first  chap- 
ter of  Acts  at  the  Lahore  Conference  in  1865, 
said,  "The  impression  made  by  his  merely  read- 
ing a  few  verses  has  not  been  effaced  by  almost 


6o 


thirty  years."  He  was  a  man  of  deep  piety, 
blameless  and  most  winning  character,  and  rare 
catholicity.  He  invited  the  Church  of  England 
Mission  to  the  Punjab  in  1850,  and  it  was  largely 
due  to  his  influence  that  such  warm  fraternal  re- 
lations were  maintained  for  forty  years  between 
the  American  missionaries  and  those  of  the  Church 
of  England ;  and  one  of  the  latter  said  of  him  that 
he  was  "  one  of  the  holiest  and  best-beloved  men 
the  Punjab  has  ever  seen."  All  of  his  children, 
four  sons  and  two  daughters,  came  back  to  labor 
with  him  in  India.  He  said  once  that  it  was  his 
mother's  prayers  that  took  him  to  India.  Little 
did  that  one  woman  know  of  the  immense  work 
she  was  doing  for  the  Punjab. 

Of  the  other  stations  of  the  Lodiana  Mission 
Ambala  was  occupied  in  1849.  It  is  a  walled 
city,  doubled  by  the  cantonments,  or  quarter 
which  has  grown  up  round  the  soldiers,  and 
about  seventy  miles  southwest  of  Lodiana.  In 
1853  work  was  begun  at  Dehra,  like  Saharanpur 
in  the  Northwest  Provinces,  and  situated  in  a  beau- 
tiful valley  or  doon,  between  the  Himalayas  and 
the  Sewaliks.  It  is  the  seat  of  a  famous  Sikh 
shrine,  the  mausoleum  of  one  of  their  gooroos  or 
religious  guides,  visited  by  many  pilgrims. 
Roorkee  and  Rawal  Pindee  were  occupied  in 
1856,  the  former  eighteen  miles  south  of  Saharan- 
pur, and  the  latter  one  hundred  and  seventy  miles 
northwest  of  Lahore,  and  on  the  main  road  to 
Kashmir.  The  Mission  pressed  on  even  farther, 
and  stationed  at  Peshawur,  on  the  border  of  the 
Afghan  country,  the  Rev.  Isidor  Lowenthal,  a 
Polish  Jew  born  in  Posen,  who  had  had  a  most 
romantic  history  and  had  been  obliged  to  flee 
from  Poland  because  of  his  liberal  political  views. 
He  was  converted  by  the  example  and  conduct 
of  a  minister  in  Wilmington,  Del.,  who  took  him 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    INDIA  6 1 

in  on  a  cold,  wet  night,  and  secured  for  him  a 
position  as  tutor  at  Lafayette  College.  He  was  a 
man  of  iron  will  and  unresting  intellectual  power, 
and  although  he  was  shot  by  mistake  by  his  own 
watchman  at  Peshawur,  when  he  was  but  thirty- 
eight,  and  had  been  only  seven  years  in  India,  he 
had  already  translated  and  published  the  whole 
New  Testament  in  Pushto,  and  had  nearly  com- 
pleted a  dictionary  of  that  language,  and  could 
preach  with  facility  in  Pushto,  Persian,  Kashmiri, 
Hindustani,  and  Arabic,  besides  being  an  accom- 
plished musician  and  mathematician.  If  he  had 
lived  he  might  have  carried  the  gospel  to  Kabul 
and  on  to  Persia.  The  money  for  this  attempt 
to  reach  the  Afghans  (rupees  15,000)  had  been 
given  by  Major  Conran,  an  earnest  Christian  offi- 
cer. With  Mr.  Lowenthal's  death  the  attempt 
was  given  up.  The  Church  Missionary  Society 
of  England,  however,  which  then  had  a  station  at 
Peshawur,  continues  the  work,  though  it  has  been 
unable  as  yet  to  get  beyond  the  Peshawur  valley. 
Roorkee  and  Rawal  Pindee  have  since  been  trans- 
ferred to  other  missionary  societies,  the  former  to 
the  Reformed,  and  the  latter  to  the  United  Pres- 
byterian Church. 

Hoshyarpore,  the  chief  town  between  the 
Sutlej  and  the  Beeas,  save  Jullunder,  was  oc- 
cupied in  1867.  That  station  has  for  years 
been  under  the  charge  of  a  converted  high- 
caste  Brahman,  the  Rev.  Kali  Charron  Chatter- 
jee,  a  man  of  fine  culture  and  devotion,  whose 
daughter  has  taken  a  medical  course  in  the  United 
States.  The  Rev.  Isa  Charron,  whose  name 
means  "  One  who  is  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,"  was  put 
in  charge  of  Ferozepore  in  1870,  but  twelve  years 
later  it  was  made  a  regular  station  under  the  Rev. 
F.  J.  Newton,  M.  D.  The  population  of  the  dis- 
trict is  about  fifty  per  cent.  Mohammedan,  and 


62  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

twenty-five  per  cent,  each  of  Sikhs  and 
Hindus.  In  1899  the  Rev.  Robert  Morrison  oc- 
cupied the  city  of  Kasur,  forty  miles  from  Feroze- 
pore,  while  resident  missionaries  had  already 
settled  at  Jagraon  and  Khanna,  both  parts  of  the 
Lodiana  station.  An  interesting  attempt  to 
establish  self-supporting  agricultural  settlements 
was  made  by  the  Rev.  M.  M.  Carleton  and  Mrs. 
Carleton  at  Ani,  Santokh  Majara,  in  the  hill  dis- 
trict, but  Mr.  Carleton  died  in  1898,  and  the 
future  of  this  enterprise  is  uncertain.  Other  sta- 
tions have  been  occupied  from  time  to  time,  but 
are  not  now  the  residences  of  missionaries.  There 
are  eleven  regular  stations,  and  connected  with 
them  thirty-nine  out-stations,  with  241  native 
workers. 

In  the  field  of  what  is  now  the  Furrukhabad 
Mission,  the  first  station  occupied  was  Allahabad 
in  1836.  The  Rev.  James  McEwen  of  the  party 
who  arrived  in  India  that  year  was  left  there  on 
the  way  to  Lodiana,  to  get  for  the  press  some 
parts  which  had  been  lost  by  the  upsetting  of  a 
boat  in  a  storm,  ascending  the  Ganges.  The  op- 
portunity for  work  was  so  bright  that  it  was  de- 
cided that  Mr.  McEwen  should  return  to  settle 
there.  When  the  Rev.  Joseph  Warren  came  in 
1839,  a  press  was  established  in  a  bath  room  of 
his  bungalow,  and  he  instructed  a  native  boy, 
who  with  a  sister  had  been  left  destitute  and 
brought  up  by  the  Mission.  This  boy  became 
later  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  press,  and  an 
elder  in  one  of  the  Mission  churches.  One  of  the 
most  useful  men  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
Professor  Archibald  Alexander  Hodge,  of  Prince- 
ton Theological  Seminary,  was  for  two  years, 
and  until  his  wife's  health  required  his  return  to 
America,  a  member  of  the  Allahabad  station. 
John  H.  Morrison  was  at  first  a  member  of  this 


THE   MISSIONS   IN   INDIA  63 

station,  but  after  his  wife's  death  and  a  fur- 
lough in  America,  he  joined  the  Lodiana  Mission. 
His  missionary  life  covered  forty-three  years.  On 
account  of  his  fearlessness  in  preaching,  he  was 
called  by  Runjeet  Singh's  title  "The  Lion  of  the 
Punjab."  It  was  he  who  led  the  Lodiana  Mis- 
sion after  the  Mutiny,  to  issue  the  call  to  Chris- 
tendom to  the  annual  week  of  prayer.  His  last 
words  as  he  lay  dying  were,  "It  is  perfect  peace 
— I  know  whom  I  have  believed." 

In  1838  work  was  commenced  at  Fatehgarh, 
where  seventy  orphans  previously  supported  by 
two  devoted  Christians  among  the  British  officials, 
fifty  of  them  at  Fatehpur  and  twenty  at  Fateh- 
garh, were  gathered  and  taken  charge  of  by  the 
Rev.  Henry  R.  Wilson.  These  children  were 
the  nucleus  of  the  useful  Christian  community 
now  to  be  found  at  Fatehgarh.  In  1843  work 
was  begun  in  Mainpurie,  forty  miles  west  of 
Fatehgarh,  and  at  Furrukhabad,  the  native  city  of 
which  Fatehgarh  is  the  cantonment,  in  the  same 
year.  Ten  years  later  Fatehpur  was  opened.  In 
1844  the  seat  of  government  was  transferred  from 
Allahabad  to  Agra.  This  led  to  the  removal  of 
many  English  friends  who  urged  the  Mission  to 
open  work  in  Agra.  It  led  also  to  the  govern- 
ment's offer  to  the  Mission  of  leave  to  use  the 
government  school  building  in  Allahabad,  with 
the  furniture  and  library.  A  good  school  was 
also  built  up  at  Agra,  with  the  aid  of  generous 
donations  from  British  friends,  but  after  some 
years  the  seat  of  government  was  removed  back 
to  Allahabad,  and  the  work  in  Agra  was  trans- 
ferred to  other  Societies. 

In  the  year  1845  the  first  meeting  of  the  Synod 
of  India  was  held  at  Fatehgarh,  in  the  chapel  of 
the  orphanage,  and  the  senior  missionary,  James 
Wilson,  preached  from  the  text  i  Timothy  4  :  14. 


64  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

There  are  now  five  presbyteries  of  our  Church  in 
India, — Lodiana,  Lahore,  Allahabad,  Furrukha- 
bad  and  Kolhapur. 

In  1857  the  foundations  of  the  missionary 
work  and  of  British  rule  also  in  North  India  were 
shaken  by  the  Indian  Mutiny,  when  the  native 
troops,  roused  by  the  belief  that  the  cartridges 
supplied  to  them  were  greased  with  animal  fat, 
which  was  repugnant  to  their  religious  scruples, 
revolted  and  massacred  their  officers  and  all  the 
foreigners  in  their  power.  Fifteen  hundred  were 
butchered,  including  thirty-seven  missionaries. 
All  of  our  missionaries  escaped  save  those  at 
Fatehpur, — Freeman,  Johnson,  McMullen,  Camp- 
bell and  their  wives,  and  the  two  little  children 
of  the  Campbells,  who  were  captured  with  British 
refugees  as  they  tried  to  escape  down  the  Ganges 
in  boats,  taken  to  Cawnpore,  and  at  Nana  Sahib's 
order,  at  seven  in  the  morning,  were  all  taken  to 
the  parade  ground  and  shot,  Mr.  Campbell  hold- 
ing one  little  child  in  his  arms,  and  an  English 
friend  the  other.  How  calmly  they  met  their 
fate,  their  last  words  show.  Mrs.  Freeman 
wrote :  — 

"  We  are  in  God's  hands,  and  we  know  that 
he  reigns.  We  have  no  place  to  flee  for  shelter 
but  under  the  covert  of  his  wings,  and  there  we 
are  safe.  Not  but  that  he  may  suffer  our  bodies 
to  be  slain.  If  he  does,  we  know  that  he  has 
wise  reasons  for  it.  I  sometimes  think  that  our 
deaths  would  do  more  good  than  we  would  do  in 
all  our  lives ;  if  so,  his  will  be  done.  Should  I 
be  called  to  lay  down  my  life,  most  joyfully  will  I 
die  for  Him  who  laid  down  his  life  for  me." 

Nana  Sahib  was  Prince  of  Bithoor,  an  educated 
gentleman,  polished  and  refined,  trained  in  a 
government  college,  and  he  shot  down  the  Euro- 
pean women  and  little  children  like  dogs.  His 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    INDIA  65 

external  culture  had  left  him  at  heart  the  same 
cruel  and  dastardly  man  he  was  before.  Many 
of  the  mission  stations  had  been  wrecked  by  the 
mutineers,  and  had  to  be  built  up  again,  but  soon 
the  work  had  recovered  all  that  had  been  lost,  and 
grew  out  into  new  fields, — Etawah,  thirty-two 
miles  southwest  of  Mainpurie  in  1863,  Morar,  in 
the  native  state  of  Gwalior,  in  1876,  Jhansi,  two 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  west  of  Allahabad,  in  1886. 
One  other  Mission  in  India  was  undertaken 
by  the  Church  in  1870.  It  is  located  many 
miles  to  the  south  of  the  northern  missions,  in 
the  Bombay  Presidency,  in  the  Kolhapur  native 
state,  with  a  population  of  800,000,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  1,700,000  in  adjoining  districts,  and 
about  1,500,000  in  the  Konkan,  the  region  be- 
tween the  Ghats,  or  hills,  which  lie  along  the 
western  coast,  and  the  sea.  Of  Kolhapur  city  it 
is  said:  "As  seen  from  a  distance  the  city  is 
beautiful  for  situation.  The  most  commanding 
object,  next  to  the  king's  palace,  is  the  towering 
white  dome  of  a  very  large  temple.  Few  cities 
or  places  in  India  have  so  high  a  reputation  for 
sanctity.  The  favorite  legend  among  the  people 
is  that  the  gods  in  council  once  pronounced  it  the 
most  sacred  spot  of  all  the  earth."  '  The  work 
in  Kolhapur  was  begun  by  the  Rev.  R.  G. 
Wilder  in  1852.  His  wife  still  labors  with  his 
daughter,  in  the  field  to  which  Mr.  Wilder  gave 
his  life.  When  the  Board  undertook  the  Mission 
in  1870,  there  were  twenty-one  communicants. 
The  number  has  grown  but  slowly,  though  the 
work  has  enlarged,  and  now  embraces  stations  at 
Ratnigiri,  in  the  Konkan,  Panhala,  fourteen  miles 
north  of  Kolhapur,  Sangli,  with  a  Boys'  Boarding 
and  Industrial  School,  and  Miraj,  occupied  in 
1892,  and  the  site  of  a  large  and  efficient  hospital 
1  Historical  Sketches,  p.  101. 


66  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

to  which  patients  come  from  towns  and  villages 
hundreds  of  miles  away. 

In  these  three  missions  there  are  now  nearly  one 
hundred  and  fifty  missionaries,  including  nearly  a 
score  of  medical  missionaries.  Every  missionary 
method  for  bringing  the  gospel  to  bear  on  the  lives 
and  wills  of  the  people  is  used.  The  gospel  is 
preached  to  the  people  in  bazaars,  on  the  street,  in 
chapels,  from  house  to  house,  to  men  and  women 
one  by  one,  in  cities  and  in  villages.  But  how 
slow  must  the  work  be  !  "  The  number  of  villages 
and  towns  is  so  great,"  said  old  Dr.  Newton, 
"that  even  though  the  time  given  to  each  were 
but  a  day  or  two,  many  years  must  elapse  before 
the  present  force  of  missionaries  could  reach  them 
all ;  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  hundreds 
of  villages  within  the  limits  of  our  Mission,  that 
have  never  yet  seen  the  face  of  a  missionary." 
Multitudes  are  reached  at  melas  or  fairs,  where 
thousands  of  people  gather,  generally  with  a  reli- 
gious aim,  such  as  to  wash  away  their  sins  by 
bathing  in  the  Ganges.  Schools  have  been  car- 
ried on  from  the  beginning.  There  are  boys' 
high  schools  now  at  Lodiana,  Ambala,  Jullun- 
der,  Allahabad,  Furrukhabad,  Mainpurie,  and 
other  boarding  schools  for  boys  at  Saharanpur 
and  Sangli,  while  there  are  day  schools  for  boys 
and  girls  at  all  stations.  Girls'  boarding  schools 
are  conducted  at  Allahabad,  Kolhapur,  and  Dehra. 
Two  interesting  schools  are  located  at  Lahore,  the 
Rang  Mahal  School  and  the  Forman  Christian 
College.  Dr.  Forman  was  the  founder  of  these 
schools,  though  the  latter  was  called  by  his  name 
only  after  his  death  in  1894.  The  former  is  a 
great  boys'  school  of  863  pupils,  held  in  what 
was  once  a  palace.  By  these  schools  Dr.  Forman 
profoundly  influenced  the  whole  Punjab.  He  was 
a  simple  man,  but  indefatigable  and  resolute,  of 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    INDIA  67 

broad  views  and  sympathies,  and  filled  with  love 
for  the  people.  His  funeral  was  a  great  demon- 
stration of  his  hold  upon  the  city,  and  when  a 
rumor  of  his  death  went  abroad,  a  notoriously 
antichristian  paper  in  Lahore,  in  an  editorial  of 
commendation  of  his  life  and  work,  declared : 
"No  foreigner  has  ever  entered  the  Punjab  who 
had  done  so  much  for  the  Punjab  as  Padre  For- 
man  Sahib."  That  was  saying  a  great  deal  in  a 
province  that  had  been  ruled  by  John  Lawrence. 
The  Woodstock  school  for  children  of  mission- 
aries and  Eurasians  and  European  children,  was 
established  at  Landour,  in  the  Himalayas,  in  1874. 
At  Saharanpur  is  a  theological  seminary,  and  an 
efficient  industrial  school,  where  hats,  shoes,  etc., 
are  made ;  and  there  are  orphanages  at  Hoshyar- 
pore  and  Fatehgarh ;  while  elsewhere,  as  the  re- 
sult of  the  awful  famines  which  ravaged  the 
Northwest  Provinces  in  1897,  and  the  Bombay 
Presidency  and  Gujerat  in  1899-1900,  many'mis- 
sionaries  have  been  forced  to  take  charge  of 
groups  of  children  to  save  them  from  death. 
From  among  the  orphans  trained  in  the  past, 
have  come  many  of  the  most  efficient  native 
Christians  and  workers;  and  their  blessed  in- 
fluences have  gone  on  to  the  second  and  third 
generations.  Another  class  of  destitute  people 
from  whom  the  missionaries  have  not  been  able 
to  withhold  sympathy,  has  been  the  lepers.  At 
Sabathu,  Ambala,  and  Saharanpur,  there  are  in- 
stitutions for  them.  The  asylum  at  Sabathu  was 
established  by  the  Rev.  John  Newton,  Jr.,  M.  D., 
of  whom  a  missionary  associate  said,  "  No  love 
in  this  dark  world  has  ever  seemed  to  me  so  much 
like  the  Saviour's  as  that  of  Dr.  Newton  for  his 
lepers."  And  when  he  died,  an  Indian  news- 
paper said  :  "  He  preached  the  true  gospel  of 
faith  and  works,  which  the  '  poor  Indian  whose 


68  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

untrained  mind'  cannot  always  take  things  in, 
found  very  intelligible.  Like  Chaucer's  Parson, 

1  Criste's  love  and  his  apostles  twelve 
He  taught,  and  first  he  followed  it  himselve.' " 

There  are  hospitals  for  men  and  women  at  Miraj 
and  for  women  only  at  Allahabad,  Ambala,  and 
Ferozepore.  The  former  is  named  the  Saia 
Seward  Hospital,  after  the  first  medical  mission- 
ary there,  a  niece  of  Secretary  of  State,  Wm.  H. 
Seward.  Since  the  Mutiny,  woman's  work  lias 
grown  many  fold.  In  1890,  zenana  teaching  was 
carried  on  in  32,000  homes  in  India,  and  theie 
were  3,278  Bible  women  and  711  missionary 
women  engaged  in  the  woman's  work,  our  own 
Mission  having  a  foremost  place  in  this  work. 

Many  of  the  difficulties  with  which  the  mis- 
sions^re  contending  have  already  been  indicated. 
One  of  the  chief  is  caste.  It  has  not  been  with- 
out- its  advantages,  but  the  disadvantages  have 
been  greater.  As  a  native  pundit,  Shiva  Nath 
Sastri,  has  declared:  "It  has  produced  division 
and  discord  ;  it  has  made  manual  labor  con- 
temptible; it  has  checked  internal  and  external 
commerce;  by  confining  marriage  within  narrow 
circles,  it  has  produced  physical  degeneracy;  it 
has  fostered  an  injurious  conservatism ;  it  has 
checked  the  development  of  individuality  and  in- 
dependence of  character;  it  has  encouraged 
harmful  customs  such  as  early  marriages,  heavy 
wedding  fees,  etc. ;  it  has  prevented  the  growth 
of  national  worth  by  confining  to  a  limited  num- 
ber the  benefits  of  culture ;  by  imposing  on  the 
people  the  most  abject  spiritual  slavery,  it  has 
prepared  the  country  for  foreign  slavery."  It  is 
hard  for  Christians  to  break  with  their  old  social 
relations  and  be  cast  out.  The  climate  is  trying. 

1  Beach,  The  Cross  in  the  Land  of  the  Trident,  p.  39  f. 


THE   MISSIONS   IN   INDIA  69 

Some  of  the  missionaries  have  spent  unusually 
long  lives  in  India,  but  many  more  have  been 
obliged  to  return  home  through  failing  health. 
The  winter  months  are  delightful,  but  in  the  hot 
season  the  thermometer  ranges  from  110°  to  120° 
in  the  shade,  and  from  150°  to  170°  in  the  sun, 
without  abatement,  and  with  no  cool  rest  at  night. 
Poverty,  also,  is  a  real  difficulty.  Multitudes  of 
the  people  are  barely  able  to  earn  sustenance. 
Bishop  Thoburn  thinks  the  average  earnings  of  a 
man  and  his  family  are  five  cents  a  day.  How 
difficult  the  self-support  of  the  native  Church  is 
on  such  a  basis  is  apparent.  Moreover,  when  a 
man  becomes  a  Christian  it  is  difficult  for  him  to 
keep  at  his  former  occupation.  His  employers 
will  not  retain  him,  and  his  customers  abandon 
him.  Even  if  he  can  continue  to  work,  the  ob- 
servance of  the  Sabbath  at  once  cuts  off  one- 
seventh  of  his  income.  But  above  all,  and  back 
of  all,  superstition  and  sin  or  indifference  and 
selfishness  are  the  great  hindrances,  the  idols  of 
men's  hands  or  appetites  or  hearts. 

Yet  in  spite  of  obstacles  the  work  of  missions 
in  India  has  grown.  According  to  the  census  of 
1890,  there  were  182,722  Protestant  communi- 
cants in  India,  more  than  three  times  as  many  as 
in  1871 ;  and  559,661  adherents,  as  compared 
with  224,161  in  1871.  Among  the  converts  in 
our  own  missions,  have  been  Hindus,  Moham- 
medans, Sikhs,  Jews,  Zoroastrians,  Jains,  Lai  Ba- 
gies.  Among  the  Hindus  have  been  converts  from 
all  castes,  Brahmans,  Khattries,  Bunyas,  Jats, 
Synds,  Rajpoots,  Fakirs,  Chamars,  Mehturs,  etc. 
There  have  been  pundits,  princes,  schoolmasters, 
munshis,  soldiers,  farmers,  shopkeepers,  etc. 
Of  course  there  are  in  many  of  these  Christians 
the  frailties  which  must  be  expected  ;  but  there  are 
also  men  and  women  of  splendid  Christian  char- 


70  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

acter  and  usefulness,  martyrs  who  escape  from 
their  trials  by  death,  and  martyrs  who  endure  in 
life  their  trials  with  quiet  hearts  and  brave  loyalty 
to  Christ. 

In  many  indirect  ways  the  missionaries  have 
profoundly  impressed  India.  They  have  set 
higher  standards  of  morality  and  social  life,  so 
that  public  opinion  is  now  often  against  what  once 
it  approved.  They  have  stimulated  reform  move- 
ments in  the  native  religions,  the  Somajes,  or 
"halfway  houses"  between  Hinduism  and  Chris- 
tianity, containing  many  men  who  reject  the  grosser 
elements  of  Hinduism  and  occupy  a  theistic 
position,  or  even  approximate  the  views  of  the 
Unitarians  in  Christendom.  They  have  inspired 
the  work  of  reformers  in  Islam,  like  Sayid  Ahmed 
Khan,  or  Sayid  Amir  Ali,  the  former  of  whom 
tried  to  prove  that  the  Reformation  was  due  to 
the  influence  of  Islam,  while  the  latter  condemns 
polygamy  and  slavery.  These  various  movements 
resort  to  the  use  of  the  very  methods  of  Chris- 
tian missions  in  their  attempts  to  stay  their  prog- 
ress and  hinder  their  work.  Allowance  must  be 
made  for  excess  in  their  appeals,  but  surely  such 
a  declaration  as  the  following  from  a  leaflet  of  one 
of  the  Hindu  Societies  is  an  interesting  testimony 
to  the  power  of  missions :  — 

"  They  have  cast  their  net  over  our  children  by 
teaching  them  in  our  schools,  and  they  have  al- 
ready made  thousands  of  Christians,  and  are 
continuing  to  do  so.  They  have  penetrated  the 
most  out-of-the-way  villages  and  built  churches 
there.  If  we  continue  to  sleep  as  we  have  done 
in  the  past,  not  one  will  be  found  worshiping  in 
the  temples  in  a  very  short  time ;  nay,  the 
temples  themselves  will  be  converted  into  Chris- 
tian churches.  Do  you  not  know  that  the  num- 
ber of  Christians  is  increasing,  and  the  number 


THE  MISSIONS   IN   INDIA  71 

of  Hindu  religionists  is  decreasing  every  day? 
Patriots  of  India !  Be  warned  in  time !  Do 
your  duty  !  The  Christian  belief  is  slowly  mak- 
ing way.  It  has  in  Europe  a  strong  and  power- 
ful organization.  Hinduism  is  daily  being  robbed 
of  its  votaries.  We  have  slept  long  enough ; 
shall  we  now  at  last,  with  a  great  and  grave 
danger  looming  before  us  in  all  its  huge  and 
hideous  proportions,  shake  off  our  lethargy?" 

There  are  many  things  which  the  British  Gov- 
ernment does  for  the  enlightenment  and  progress 
of  the  land.  Something  of  what  India  was  be- 
fore a  Christian  power  entered  and  of  what  that 
power  has  done  is  indicated  by  a  list  of  the  evils 
which  have  been  abated  by  Great  Britain ;  in- 
cluding suttee,  infanticide,  torments  voluntary 
and  involuntary,  slavery,  etc.1  The  educational 
system  of  the  government  has  broken  down 
superstition,  and  the  railroad  system  is  destroying 
some  of  the  exclusiveness  of  the  caste  separation 
by  forcing  into  close  contact  as  fellow-travelers 
men  of  different  castes.  But  all  this  will  be 
simply  casting  out  one  devil  and  making  room 
for  seven  new  ones,  so  that  the  last  state  will  be 
worse  than  the  first,  if  Christian  missions  do  not 
supply  that  element  of  moral  character  and  rea- 
sonable religious  faith  which  the  government 
educational  system  with  its  professed  neutrality 
ignores.  As  Sir  Monier  Williams  says :  "  We 
teach  a  native  to  believe  in  himself.  We  depre- 
cate his  not  desiring  to  be  better  than  his 
fathers.  ,  .  .  We  puff  him  up  with  an  over- 
weening opinion  of  his  own  sufficiency.  We  in- 
flate him  with  a  sublime  sense  of  his  own  im- 
portance as  a  distinct  unit  in  the  body  politic. 
We  reveal  to  him  the  meaning  of  '  I  am,'  '  I  can,' 
'I  will,'  'I  shall,'  'I  know,'  without  inculcating 

1  Pierson,  The  New  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  pp.  263,  264. 


72  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

any  lesson  of  'I  ought,'  and  'I  ought  not,' 
without  implanting  any  sense  of  responsibility  to 
and  dependence  on  an  Eternal,  Almighty  and 
All-wise  Being  for  life,  for  strength,  for  knowl- 
edge— without,  in  short,  imparting  real  self-knowl- 
edge, or  teaching  true  self-mastery,  or  instilling 
high  principles  and  high  motives.  Such  a  system 
carries  with  it  its  own  Nemesis."  l  But  even 
such  education  does  not  always  cast  out  super- 
stitions or  change  motives.  It  has  produced 
much  of  what  the  Allahabad  Pioneer  calls 
"  fetichism  in  patent  leather  books,"  university 
graduates  even  who  when  they  came  to  die  have 
had  a  sacred  cow  brought  in  that  they  might 
breathe  out  their  spirits  through  its  tail  !  It  has 
produced  Nana  Sahib. 

Other  missions  than  ours  have  come  into  North- 
ern India  and  accomplished  much  in  recent 
years ;  but  twenty  years  ago,  Dr.  John  Murdock, 
who  knows  all  of  India  thoroughly,  could  write 
of  our  own,  "  Perhaps  no  Mission  in  North  India 
has  done  more  in  the  way  of  direct  preaching  to 
the  heathen,"  and  could  commend  the  care  taken 
to  preserve  the  evangelistic  character  of  the 
schools,  and  the  work  done  through  the  press  as 
equal  to  that  done  in  North  India  and  the  Punjab 
by  "  all  the  other  missionaries  taken  together  for 
the  diffusion  of  Christian  truth  through  this 
agency." 

One  great  service  rendered  by  the  Presbyterian 
Missions  in  India  was  the  call  to  the  Christian 
Church  to  the  annual  week  of  prayer.  This  call 
was  issued  by  the  Lodiana  Mission  in  1858. 
Though  the  Mission  felt  that  it  was  a  humble  body 
to  call  the  whole  Christian  world  to  such  prayer, 
it  yet  adopted  in  faith  this  resolution  : 

"  WHEREAS,  our  spirits  have  been  greatly  re- 
1  Monier  Williams,  Modern  India,  p.  304. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    INDIA  73 

freshed  by  what  we  have  heard  of  the  Lord's  deal- 
ings with  his  people  in  America,  and  further,  be- 
ing convinced  from  the  signs  of  the  times  that 
God  has  still  larger  blessings  for  his  people  and 
for  our  ruined  world,  and  that  he  now  seems 
ready  and  waiting  to  bestow  them  as  soon  as 
asked ;  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  we  appoint  the  second  week 
in  January,  1859,  beginning  with  Monday  the 
8th,  as  a  time  of  special  prayer,  and  that  all 
God's  people,  of  every  name  and  nation,  of  every 
continent  and  island,  be  cordially  and  earnestly 
invited  to  unite  with  us  in  the  petition  that  God 
would  now  pour  out  his  Spirit  upon  all  flesh,  so 
that  all  the  ends  of  the  earth  might  see  his  salva- 
tion." *  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Week  of 
Prayer. 

Why  shall  we  not  believe  and  work  toward  the 
fulfillment  of  this  prayer,  that  at  last  it  may  be 
answered  for  India  and  that  the  long  work  of 
preparation  that  has  now  been  done,  may  issue  in 
the  result  prophesied  by  Sir  Charles  Trevelyan, 
who  was  not  a  visionary  or  careless  man,  who  was 
the  Governor  General's  Secretary  when  Dr.  Lowrie 
reached  Calcutta,  and  who  helped  him  in  his 
plans,  and  advised  him  as  to  his  location  at 
Lodiana : — 

"  Many  persons  mistake  the  way  in  which  the 
conversion  of  India  will  be  brought  about.  I  be- 
lieve it  will  take  place  at  last  wholesale,  just  as 
our  own  ancestors  were  converted.  The  country 
will  have  Christian  instruction  infused  into  it  in 
every  way  by  direct  missionary  education,  and  in- 
directly by  books  of  various  sorts,  through  the 
public  papers,  through  conversation  with  Euro- 
peans, and  in  all  the  conceivable  ways  in  which 
knowledge  is  communicated.  Then  at  last  when 
1  Historical  Sketches,  p.  109. 


74  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

society  is  completely  saturated  with  Christian 
knowledge,  and  public  opinion  has  taken  a  de- 
cided turn  that  way,  they  will  come  over  by 
thousands." 


THE  MISSIONS  IN  SIAM  AND  LAOS 


75 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    MISSIONS    IN    SIAM    AND    LAOS 

THE  first  Protestant  mission  work  in  Siam  was 
established  for  the  sake  of  the  Chinese  by  Gutzlaff 
and  Tomlin,  who  landed  at  Bangkok  in  1828. 
The  Jesuits  antagonized  them  unsuccessfully,  but 
their  stay  was  short.  The  American  Baptists  be- 
gan work  in  1833,  for  both  Siamese  and  Chinese, 
but  have  discontinued  the  former.  Other  mis- 
sionary bodies  which  entered  the  field  have  with- 
drawn, so  that  now  the  only  Protestant  agencies 
at  work  for  the  Siamese  are'  the  Presbyterian 
Church  and  the  American  Bible  Society. 

The  Mission  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  was 
established  in  1840  by  the  Rev.  William  Buell,  the 
Rev.  R.  W.  Orr,  who  was  sent  to  Bangkok  in 
1838  to  report  on  its  eligibility  as  a  mission  sta- 
tion for  work  among  Chinese,  having  advised  its 
occupancy  as  a  mission  field  for  the  sake  of  the 
Siamese  as  well  as  for  its  value  in  reaching  the 
Chinese  with  the  gospel.  Mr.  Buell  spent  four 
years  in  Siam,  and  then  came  home  on  account 
of  the  paralysis  of  Mrs.  Buell  ;  and  it  was  1847 
when  the  next  missionaries,  the  Rev.  Stephen 
Mattoon,  and  the  Rev.  S.  R.  House,  M.  D.,  who 
died  in  the  State  of  New  York  in  1899,  and  their 
wives  arrived.  The  hostility  of  the  King  greatly 
impeded  the  missionaries.  His  subjects  did -not 
dare  to  rent  property  to  them  and  at  last  they 
were  about  to  leave  the  country.  But  when 
things  were  at  their  worst,  when  the  teachers  of 

77 


78  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

the  missionaries  had  been  arrested  and  thrown 
into  prison,  when  their  servants  had  left  them  or 
been  driven  off  and  no  one  dared  to  speak  with 
them  on  religion,  and  when  Sir  James  Brooke,  a 
British  ambassador,  insulted  by  the  King,  was 
about  to  leave  to  secure  assistance  to  open  the 
country  by  force,  the  King. died,  and  the  new 
King  chosen  was  a  prince  who  had  been  taught 
English  and  science  by  one  of  the  American  mis- 
sionaries. He  shortly  invited  the  missionaries  to 
the  palace,  and  they  wrote  home,  "The  prince 
and  nobles  now  coveted  our  society,  our  teachers 
and  servants  returned  to  their  places,  throngs 
came  to  our  houses  to  receive  books,  to  talk  with 
us  respecting  their  contents,  and  we  were  per- 
mitted to  go  where  we  chose,  and  to  speak  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  with  the  confidence  that  we  should 
not  be  avoided,  but  obtain  a  respectful  hearing." 
How  great  the  change  was  under  the  new  King 
is  shown  by  this  statement  prepared  by  the  au- 
thorities with  his  sanction  :  "  Many  years  ago 
the  American  missionaries  came  here.  They 
came  before  any  other  Europeans,  and  they  taught 
the  Siamese  to  speak  and  read  the  English  lan- 
guage. The  American  missionaries  have  always 
been  just  and  upright  men.  They  have  never 
meddled  in  the  affairs  of  government,  nor  created 
any  difficulty  with  the  Siamese.  They  have  lived 
with  the  Siamese  just  as  if  they  belonged  to  the 
nation.  The  Government  of  Siam  has  great  love 
and  respect  for  them  and  has  no  fear  whatever 
concerning  them.  When  there  has  been  a  diffi- 
culty of  any  kind,  the  missionaries  have  many 
times  rendered  valuable  assistance.  For  this  rea- 
son the  Siamese  have  loved  and  respected  them 
for  a  long  time.  The  Americans  have  also  taught 
the  Siamese  many  things." 

In  1856  a  treaty  was  negotiated  between  Siam  and 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    SIAM    AND    LAOS  79 

the  United  States  by  Townsend  Harris.  Dr. 
William  M.  Wood,  later  Surgeon  General  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  who  accompanied  the  Em- 
bassy, wrote  that  "the  unselfish  kindness  of  the 
American  missionaries,  their  patience,  sincerity  and 
truthfulness,  have  won  the  confidence  and  esteem 
of  the  natives,  and  in  some  degree  transferred  those 
sentiments  to  the  nation  represented  by  the  mis- 
sions, and  prepared  the  way  for  the  free  and 
national  intercourse  now  commencing.  It  was 
very  evident  that  much  of  the  apprehension  they 
felt  in  taking  upon  themselves  the  responsibilities 
of  a  treaty  with  us  would  be  diminished  if  they 
could  have  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mattoon  as  the  first 
United  States  consul  to  set  the  treaty  in  mo- 
tion."1 Mr.  Mattoon  was  willing  to  take  the 
office  only  temporarily,  because  desired  to  do  so  by 
the  Embassy  and  the  Siamese  Government  alike, 
and  only  until  a  successor  should  be  appointed  at 
Washington. 

Thus  Siam  was  peaceably  opened  by  mission- 
aries. The  Regent  in  1871  frankly  stated  this  to 
the  Hon.  George  F.  Seward,  then  United  States 
Consul  General  at  Shanghai,  "  Siam  has  not  been 
disciplined  by  English  and  French  guns  as  China 
has,  but  the  country  has  been  opened  by  mis- 
sionaries." And  this  friendliness  of  the  Siamese 
Government  has  never  been  interrupted  since. 
The  King  and  Prince  have  contributed  generously 
to  the  work  of  the  mission,  giving  land,  and  time 
and  again  assisting  in  erecting  buildings.  When 
the  present  King  celebrated,  in  1894,  the  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  of  his  accession  to  the  throne, 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  sent  an  address 
of  congratulation,  and  the  Minister  for  Foreign 

1  Siam  and  Laos,  as  Seen  by  our  American  Missionaries, 
P-  378. 


8o  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Affairs  replied,  gracefully  dating  his  reply  Feb- 
ruary 22d,  that  "  His  Majesty  felt  much  pleased 
and  gratified  to  see  that  the  feelings  of  good  will 
which  have  always  animated  his  government  to- 
ward the  work  carried  on  in  Siam  by  Presbyterian 
missionaries  were  appreciated  by  the  Board,  and 
expressed  the  hope  that  the  mutual  trust  and  con- 
fidence which  have  been  the  distinguishing  mark 
in  the  past,  would  be  as  successfully  preserved  in 
the  relations  of  the  future." 

Influenced  at  the  beginning  by  the  missionaries, 
and  appreciating  them  ever  since,  the  Government 
of  Siam  has  ever  been  one  of  the  most  progressive 
and  liberal  governments  of  Asia,  though  none  of 
its  kings  has  ever  embraced  Christianity.  The 
King  who  came  to  the  throne  in  1873,  died  with 
Buddha's  last  words  on  his  lips,  "All  that  ex- 
ists is  unreliable,"  and  he  said  to  the  mission- 
aries, "The  sciences  I  receive,  astronomy,  geol- 
ogy, chemistry — these  I  receive;  the  Christian 
religion  I  do  not  receive ;  many  of  your  country- 
men do  not  receive  it."  When  the  present  King 
took  the  "reins  of  government  into  his  own 
hands,  prompted  by  his  own  noble  instincts,  his 
inherited  love  of  progress  and  sincere  desire  for 
the  good  of  his  people,  he  boldly  ventured  upon 
reforms  that  were  startling  to  his  courtiers,  and 
indeed  to  all  who  had  known  Old  Siam.  His 
coronation  day  was  marked  by  the  abolition  of 
the  degrading  custom  practiced  for  centuries  of 
requiring  those  of  inferior  rank  to  crouch  and 
crawl  on  all  fours  like  spaniels  in  the  presence  of 
their  superiors.  A  still  more  remarkable  change 
he  sought  to  introduce  was  the  giving  up  of  some 
of  his  absolute  power  as  sovereign,  by  creating  a 
council  of  state  and  also  a  privy  council,  before 
whom  all  public  measures  were  to  be  brought  and 
discussed  and  approved  before  they  could  be  de- 


THE   MISSIONS    IN   SIAM    AND    LAOS  8 1 

creed  by  the  King  as  laws."  ]  And  the  spirit  of 
his  government  ever  since  has  been  generous  and 
enlightened.  It  would  seem  that  this  method  of 
opening  and  elevating  Eastern  lands  by  the 
peaceful  influence  of  missions,  is  better  than  the 
method  of  war  and  conquest. 

The  first  convert  of  the  Siam  Mission  was  a 
Chinese  teacher,  Qua-Kieng,  who  was  baptized 
in  1844,  and  died  in  the  faith  in  1859.  "It  is 
interesting  to  learn  that  three  of  his  children  be- 
came Christians  after  his  death  and  one  of  his 
grandsons,  educated  in  the  United  States,  has  re- 
turned to  his  own  country  as  a  Christian  minister, 
and  is  now  engaged  in  earnest  work  for  his  peo- 
ple." 2  In  1851  a  young  Hainan  Chinese  was  bap- 
tized, "  the  first  of  that  people  to  become  a  Chris- 
tian." It  was  not  till  1859  that  the  first  Siamese 
convert  was  baptized,  Nai  Chune.  "With  tears 
of  joy,"  wrote  Dr.  House,  "they  gathered  in  at 
last,  after  more  than  twelve  years  of  toil,  unblest, 
the  first-fruits  of  their  labor  among  the  Siamese." 
This  Nai  Chune  "though  frequently  offered  posi- 
tions of  honor,  lucrative  offices,  and  employment 
by  the  government,  refused  all  and  chose  to  sup- 
port himself  by  the  practice  of  medicine,  that 
thus  he  might  the  more  readily  carry  the  gospel 
message."  3 

One  result  of  the  cordial  attitude  of  the  new 
King  in  1851,  was  an  invitation  to  the  wives  of 
the  missionaries  to  visit  the  palace,  as  the  King 
"desires  several  ladies  who  live  with  him  to  ac- 
quire knowledge  in  English."  That  desire  was 
in  itself  a  sign  of  progress.  "  When  we  first 
came  to  Siam,"  said  Mrs.  House,  "not  one 

1  Siam  and  Laos  as   Seen  by  our  American  Mission- 
aries, p.  404. 

2  Historical  Sketches,  p.  286. 
s  Ibid.,  p.  286  f. 


82  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

woman  or  little  girl  in  one  hundred  could  read, 
although  all  the  boys  are  taught  by  the  priests  in 
the  temple  to  read  and  write.  One  day  a  very 
bright  interesting  little  girl,  twelve  years  old  per- 
haps, came  to  our  boat  to  see  the  strangers,  and 
when  asked  if  she  could  read,  she  did  not  an- 
swer yes  or  no,  but  with  surprise  exclaimed, 
'  Why,  I'm  a  girl  / '  as  if  we  ought  to  have  known 
better  than  to  ask  a  girl  such  a  question."  l  For 
three  years  the  class  in  the  palace  was  kept  up. 
It  was  composed  of  twenty-one  of  the  thirty  young 
wives  of  the  King  and  several  of  his  royal  sisters, 
and  Mrs.  House  held  that  it  was  "the  first 
zenana  teaching  ever  attempted  in  the  East," 
preceding  the  first  zenana  work  in  India  by  six 
or  seven  years.  The  work  ceased  suddenly  at 
the  evident  wish  of  the  King,  who,  it  was 
thought,  feared  that  some  of  his  household  were 
becoming  too  much  interested  in  Christianity. 
The  way  it  ceased,  as  below  described,  was  char- 
acteristically Eastern. 

"  I  proceeded  to  the  gate  where  we  had  so  often 
passed  in  and  out,"  said  Mrs.  House.  "  As  I 
drew  near  there  was  a  rustle  and  a  rush  to  hide 
from  my  presence.  I  called  out  pleasantly  in 
Siamese,  asking  if  they  would  not  open  the  gate 
for  me,  but  no  answer  came  excepting  the  sup- 
pressed laughter  of  some  young  girls  hiding  be- 
hind the  screens.  We  quietly  accepted  the  evi- 
dent intention  of  the  King,  and  our  teaching  in 
the  palace  ceased."  '' 

There  has  never  been  any  persecution  of  Chris- 
tians in  lower  Siam,  however,  since  1850,  and 
any  subject  of  the  King  is  at  liberty  to  change  his 
faith.  In  1870  the  King  issued  the  following 

1  Siam  and  Laos  as  Seen  by  our  American  Mission- 
aries, p.  99. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  333. 


THE   MISSIONS   IN   SIAM   AND   LAOS  83 

proclamation  which  contrasts  vividly  with  the  con- 
ditions in  China  and  Mohammedan  lands  :  — 

' '  In  regard  to  the  concern  of  seeking  and  hold- 
ing a  religion  that  shall  be  a  refuge  to  yourself  in 
this  life,  it  is  a  good  concern  and  exceedingly  ap- 
propriate that  you  all — every  individual  of  you — 
should  investigate  and  judge  for  yourself  accord- 
ing to  his  own  wisdom.  And  when  you  see  any 
religion  whatever,  or  any  company  of  religionists 
whatever,  likely  to  be  of  advantage  to  yourself,  a 
refuge  in  accord  with  your  own  wisdom,  hold  to 
that  religion  with  all  your  heart.  Hold  it  not 
with  a  shallow  mind,  with  mere  guesswork,  or 
because  of  its  general  popularity,  or  from  mere 
traditional  saying  that  it  is  the  custom  held  from 
time  immemorial ;  and  do  not  hold  a  religion 
that  you  have  not  good  evidence  is  true,  and  then 
frighten  men's  fears,  and  flatter  their  hopes  by  it. 
Uo  not  be  frightened  and  astonished  at  diverse 
events,  fictitious  wonders,  and  hold  to  and  follow 
them.  When  you  shall  have  obtained  a  refuge, 
a  religious  faith  that  is  beautiful,  and  good,  and 
suitable,  hold  to  it  with  great  joy,  and  follow  its 
teachings,  and  it  will  be  a  cause  of  prosperity  to 
each  one  of  you."  l 

Under  such  liberal  influences  the  work  has 
grown  quietly  and  peacefully.  There  are  now 
three  churches  in  Bangkok,  the  last  one  having 
been  established  in  1897,  the  fiftieth  year  since 
the  establishment  of  the  Mission.  The  present 
boys'  school  was  opened  in  1852,  and  has  trained 
hundreds  of  boys  for  positions  of  influence  and 
usefulness  in  Siam.  New  buildings  are  soon  to 
be  erected  on  land  purchased  by  funds  given  by 
the  king,  princes,  and  the  merchants,  of  Bangkok, 
both  Siamese  and  Chinese  and  foreign.  The 
girls'  boarding  school,  now  called  the  Harriet 

1  Cort,  Siam,  p.  292. 


84  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

House  School,  was  opened  by  Mrs.  House  in 
1873.  It  is  hard  to  keep  Siamese  girls  for  a 
careful  education.  The  Siamese  do  not  value  it 
for  their  girls.  The  Mission  does  its  best  with 
them,  and  with  good  success.  At  the  Exhibition 
in  Siam,  in  1882,  the  King  purchased  the  exhibit 
the  school  presented  of  fancy  articles,  and  subse- 
quently gave  the  school  a  silver  medal. 

The  missionaries  have  helped  to  shape  the 
educational  work  of  the  kingdom.  In  1878  the 
King  appointed  Dr.  McFarland,  one  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, to  be  Principal  of  the  Royal  College  at 
Bangkok,  and  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion. The  work  of  the  medical  missionaries  was 
so  thoroughly  done  that  now  in  Bangkok  the  gov- 
ernment itself  carries  on  such  work  so  fully  as  to 
make  missionary  hospitals  unnecessary;  and  the 
government's  three  hospitals,  insane  asylum,  or- 
phanage, and  dispensary,  in  Bangkok  have  been 
put  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Hayes,  formerly  one  of 
the  missionaries,  "with  no  restriction  placed  upon 
teaching  Christianity."  Outside  of  Bangkok  and 
in  the  Laos  country  there  is  as  great  need  of 
medical  missions  as  anywhere.  How  great  that 
need  is,  is  shown  in  a  paper  on  the  "Siamese 
Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine,"  by  Dr.  E.  A. 
Sturge,  once  a  medical  missionary  at  Petchaburee. 
The  Siamese  view,  he  says,  is  that  "the  body  is 
composed  of  twenty  kinds  of  earth,  twelve  kinds 
of  water,  six  kinds  of  wind  and  four  kinds  of  fire. 
The  varieties  of  wind  are  as  follows  :  The  first 
kind  passes  from  the  head  to  the  feet,  and  the 
second  variety  from  the  feet  to  the  head;  the 
third  variety  resides  above  the  diaphragm,  and 
the  fourth  circulates  in  the  arteries,  forming  the 
pulse;  the  fifth  enters  the  lungs,  and  the  sixth 
resides  in  the  intestines.  The  four  kinds  of  fire 
are:  First,  that  which  gives  the  body  its  natural 


THE   MISSIONS    IN   SIAM   AND    LAOS  85 

temperature;  the  second,  that  which  causes  a 
higher  temperature,  as  after  exercise  or  in  fevers ; 
the  third  variety  causes  digestion,  and  the  fourth 
causes  old  age.  The  Siamese  divide  the  body 
into  thirty-two  parts,  as  the  skin,  heart,  lungs, 
etc.  The  body  is  subject  to  ninety-six  diseases, 
due  to  the  disarrangement  of  the  earth,  wind,  fire, 
and  water.  Thus,  if  there  is  an  undue  propor- 
tion of  fire  we  have  one  of  the  fevers.  Dropsies 
are  caused  by  too  great  a  proportion  of  water,  and 
wind  causes  all  manner  of  complaints.  Nine  out 
of  ten  of  the  natives,  when  asked  what  is  the 
matter  with  them,  answer  '  Pen  Lorn '  (wind). 
.  .  .  Spirits  are  supposed  to  have  great  power 
over  our  bodies,  deranging  the  elements  and  pro- 
ducing all  manner  of  diseases.  The  minds  of 
the  natives  are  thus  held  in  continual  bondage 
for  fear  of  the  spirits,  for  no  one  knows  what 
great  sins  he  may  have  committed  in  a  previous 
state  of  existence  for  which  he  may  be  called  upon 
to  suffer  at  any  moment.  Thus  the  people  are 
constantly  endeavoring  to  propitiate  the  spirits  by 
presents,  incantations,  etc."1 

The  first  Mission  Press  in  Siam  was  established 
in  1836,  by  Dr.  Bradley  of  the  American  Board 
Mission.  The  Presbyterian  Press  was  set  up  in 
1 86 1,  and  has  printed  besides  the  Bible,  which 
formerly  would  have  made  a  book  larger  than 
Webster's  Unabridged  Dictionary,  but  which  can 
now  be  bought  in  four  volumes  of  convenient 
size,  Pilgrim's  Progress,  and  scores  of  other 
books  and  tracts,  among  them,  The  Light  of 
Europe,  a  book  by  a  native  Christian  layman,  in 
answer  to  Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  Light  of  Asia. 

Outside  of  Bangkok  there  are  stations  at  Petch- 
aburee,  Ratburee  and  Nakawn  in  lower  Siam, 

1  Siam  and  Laos  as  Seen  by  our  American  Missionaries, 
p.  236  f. 


86  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

with  work  at  Ayuthia  and  Pitsanuloke  also.  Mr. 
Buell  visited  Petchaburee  in  1843,  "when  the 
governor  treated  him  and  his  companion  with 
indignity.  The  books  and  tracts  they  distributed 
were  either  returned  by  the  people,  or  were  seized 
and  destroyed ;  and  several  who  received  them 
were  arrested  and  would  have  been  whipped  by 
the  governor  of  the  province  had  not  a  Buddhist 
high  priest  (the  prince  who  was  afterwards  king) 
been  present  at  the  time  and  interceded  for  their 
release."1  In  1861,  however,  a  new  governor 
requested  the  establishment  of  a  station,  and  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  McGilvary  and  Mr.  McFarland  re- 
moved to  Petchaburee  from  Bangkok.  The  sons 
of  the  governor  and  lieutenant-governor  attended 
the  mission  school.  In  1888  the  King  donated 
$2,400  to  enlarge  the  hospital  buildings,  and  in 
1895  the  Queen  gave  the  funds  for  a  woman's 
ward.  The  girls'  school  of  Petchaburee  also  re- 
ceived $1,000  from  the  King  toward  the  cost  of 
its  erection,  and  princes  and  nobles  added  $1,260 
more.  Ratburee  was  occupied  in  1889,  and  the 
station  occupies  now  buildings  and  land  put  at  its 
disposal  by  the  government. 

The  Nakawn  station  has  a  singularly  interest- 
ing history.  "  Fourteen  years  ago  a  native  of 
Nakawn,  having  heard  of  the  fame  of  an  English 
physician  in  Bangkok,  left  Nakawn  in  a  little  sail- 
boat in  search  of  the  physician  for  healing.  His 
wife  accompanied  him  to  nurse  him  by  the  way. 
Seemingly  adverse  winds  drove  their  little  craft 
into  the  Petchaburee  river.  At  the  mouth  of  the 
river  they  met  a  disciple  of  Jesus  who  said  :  '  Why 
go  to  Bangkok  ?  There  is  a  good  missionary  phy- 
sician at  Petchaburee  who  will  gladly  care  for 
you.'  The  sick  man  was  welcomed  to  the  hos- 
pital and  there  found  more  than  he  had  expected ; 

1  Cort,  Sia/n,  p.  295. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    SIAM    AND    LAOS  87 

for  he  was  not  only  healed  of  his  disease,  but  he 
also  accepted  Jesus  as  his  Saviour.  His  wife 
also  was  converted.  They  resolved  to  return  to 
their  native  province  and  there  proclaim  the  glad 
tidings.  They  were  given  earnest  instruction  in 
the  Word,  and  in  less  than  one  year  from  the 
time  that  they  reached  the  Petchaburee  hospital, 
ignorant  even  of  the  precious  name  Jesus,  they 
were  earnestly  proclaiming  the  Great  Salvation 
not  only  in  the  city  of  Nakawn,  but  even  to  the 
northwest  border  of  the  province.  God  approved 
their  labors.  For  it  was  not  long  before  several 
persons,  instructed  by  them,  journeyed  to  Bang- 
kok and  Petchaburee  and  united  with  the  churches 
of  those  places."  In  1895  a  church  of  thirty-one 
members  was  organized  at  Nakawn,  and  has 
grown  steadily  since,  and  the  new  station  there 
will  be  provided  with  ground  and  buildings,  al- 
most wholly  supplied  without  money  from  Amer- 
ica. In  1898,  touring  in  Nakawn,  Dr.  Dunlap 
met  the  King  of  Siam,  who  was  visiting  this 
province  and  made  many  inquiries  about  the 
mission  work,  and  said,  "  I  am  glad  you  are  here 
working  for  my  people,  and  I  wish  you  success." 
Buddhism  has  been  a  very  tolerant  religion, 
and  the  civilization  of  the  King  which  has  loos- 
ened his  faith  in  much  Buddhist  teaching,  has  but 
strengthened  his  tolerant  spirit.  But  why  should 
not  a  Buddhist  be  tolerant  ?  His  religion  is  a 
religion  not  of  affirmation,  but  of  denial,  not  of 
responsibility,  but  of  carelessness,  listless,  le- 
thargic, not  strenuous  and  active.  Its  sleepy 
spirit  is  set  forth  in  Mrs.  Judson's  verses : — 


On  the  pagoda  spire 

The  bells  are  swinging, 
With  their  little  golden  circlets  in  a  flutter 
With  tales  the  wooing  winds  have  dared  to  utter, 


88  PRESBYTERIAN   FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Till  all  are  ringing 

As  if  a  choir 
Of  golden-nested  birds  in  heaven  were  singing ; 

And  with  a  lulling  sound 

The  music  floats  around, 
And  drops  like  balm  into  the  drowsy  ear. 

And  the  temples  and  worship  of  Buddhism 
reveal  its  character  :  the  voluptuousness  of  the 
rounded  pagodas,  the  cross-legged,  silent,  ex- 
pressionless images  of  Buddha,  the  monotonous 
liturgies,  and  common,  uninspiring  offerings,  the 
careless  demeanor  of  the  worshipers,  the  air  of 
listlessness  and  torpor  over  all,  men  and  women 
smoking,  priests  droning,  and  children  wandering 
about,  or  sleeping,  or  playing  gently  at  their 
games.  The  institution  of  the  Buddhist  priest- 
hood in  Siam  is  a  huge  incubus  of  indolence. 
Almost  every  man  spends  part  of  his  life  in  the 
priesthood,  and  of  course  during  that  portion 
does  no  work,  but  lives  by  begging.  "  A  Bud- 
dhist monk  possesses  in  his  own  right  eight  articles, 
viz.,  three  robes,  a  girdle,  an  alms  bowl,  a  razor, 
a  needle,  and  a  water  strainer,  this  last  that  he 
may  not  unwittingly  in  drinking  destroy  animal 
life.  All  other  articles  accepted  in  charity  are 
supposed  to  be  received  on  behalf  of  the  chapter. 
The  Siamese  monk  must  observe  strict  celibacy, 
refrain  from  all  secular  avocations  and  eat  no 
solid  food  after  the  sun  has  passed  the  meridian. 
Priests  are  easily  recognized  by  their  yellow  robes 
and  shaven  heads.  In  going  about  they  usually 
feign  indifference  to  all  temporal  concerns  by 
walking  with  measured  pace,  apparently  noticing 
nothing.  There  is  no  hereditary  priesthood. 
Any  male  enters  a  wat  at  his  pleasure,  and  leaves 
it  without  reproach  to  return  to  secular  life ;  if 
married,  however,  he  must  be  divorced  before 
entering.  Every  man  is  expected  to  spend  more 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    SIAM   AND   LAOS  89 

or  less  time  in  the  priesthood,  and  according  to 
law  no  one  can  serve  the  government  until  he  has 
done  so.  Little  boys  are  put  into  the  wats  as 
pupils  at  a  very  early  age  (for  each  wat  is  more  or 
less  of  a  public  school),  and  when  they  have 
learned  to  read  and  write  they  are  ready  to  put 
on  the  yellow  robes  ;  so  they  grow  up  to  man- 
hood, and  often  to  middle  age,  amid  surround- 
ings only  calculated  to  make  them  idle,  and 
frequently  vicious,  men."  l 

From  the  beginning  Buddhism  has  been  a 
selfish  religion,  of  pure  individualism.  It  has 
always  taught  doctrines  which  can  only  result  in 
the  destruction  of  all  social  joy  and  progress. 
Buddha's  four  sublime  verities  were :  "(i)  There 
is  pain  or  sorrow  because  of  existence;  (2)  This 
comes  from  desire ;  (3)  Pain  and  sorrow  may  be 
made  to  cease  by  conquest  over  desire,  and  that 
conquest  is  equivalent  to  the  attaining  of  Nirvana  ; 
(4)  There  is  a  way  that  leads  thither."  And  the 
way  to  Nirvana  lay  along  the  middle  path,  the 
eightfold  path  of  right  belief,  that  is,  in  Buddha's 
doctrine ;  right  resolve,  that  is,  to  abandon  all 
ties  that  interfere  with  becoming  a  monk  ;  right 
language,  or  the  recitation  of  the  law ;  right  be- 
havior, as  that  of  a  monk  ;  right  mode  of  liveli- 
hood, or  living  by  alms  ;  right  exertion,  or  sup- 
pression of  self;  right  mindfulness,  that  is,  of  the 
transitoriness  of  the  body,  and  right  meditation, 
or  composure  of  the  mind  into  trance-like 
quietude.  Buddhists  do  by  instinct  now  what 
Buddha  taught  men  to  do  by  a  method.  They 
forfeit  their  likeness  to  the  God  of  whom  his  Son 
said,  "  My  Father  worketh,  and  I  work." 

Eitel  did  not  pronounce  too  severe  a  condemna- 
tion when  he  wrote  that  Buddhism  "  arose  from  a 

1  Siam  and  Laos  as  Seen  by  our  American  Missionaries, 
p.  292  f. 


90  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

feeling  of  spiritual  bankruptcy  and  never  after  re- 
covered its  mental  equilibrium.  It  is  therefore 
essentially  a  religion  of  sullen  despair,  based  on 
the  total  obliteration  of  a  healthy  faith  in  the 
actual  constitution  of  things,  penetrated  by  a 
spirit  of  morose  abandon,  mental  and  moral,  and 
resulting  in  a  barren  sophistic  nihilism  which  fails 
to  recognize  in  nature,  in  history,  in  human 
affairs,  the  will  of  God,  and  never  thought  of  in- 
terpreting that  will  by  the  dictates  of  human  con- 
science. Buddhism  is  in  fact  a  system  of  religion 
without  hope  and  strictly  speaking  even  without 
God,  a  system  of  morality  without  a  conscience, 
a  system  of  philosophy  which  wears  either  the 
mask  of  transcendental  mysticism  or  of  nihilistic 
cynicism."  l 

One  of  the  worst  influences  of  Buddhism  has 
grown  out  of  the  doctrine  of  transmigration.  No 
woman  may  hope  for  blessedness  or  salvation  as 
a  woman.  She  can  only  look  forward  to  being 
born  in  some  fresh  turn  of  the  wheel  of  life  as  a 
man.  Her  social  status  is  accordingly  fixed. 
This  symbol  of  the  wheel  is  the  proper  symbol  of 
Buddhism,  as  the  symbol  of  Christianity  is  a 
cross :  the  one  a  religion  of  indefinite,  eternal, 
unaccomplishing  monotony,  the  other,  a  living, 
active,  direct,  transforming  power ;  the  one  a 
sensuous  dream,  the  other  a  ministry  of  sacri- 
fice. 

In  southern  Siam  Buddhism  is  especially  placid, 
hopeless,  unimpressionable.  In  the  northern 
Laos  states,  a  simpler,  more  natural  people  have 
opened  their  hearts  to  a  message  that  speaks  of 
deliverance  from  evil  spirits  and  the  terror  of 
sin. 

These  Laos  states  are  500  miles  north  of 
Bangkok,  and  the  traveler  must  have  patience  for 
1  Eitel,  Buddhism,  p.  95  f. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    SIAM   AND   LAOS  9! 

a  long,  tedious  river  journey  over  rapids  and 
through  passes,  sometimes  with  hardship  and 
peril.  In  1881  Miss  Mary  M.  Campbell,  one  of 
the  missionaries,  was  drowned  in  the  Meinam 
river  on  her  way  up  to  Chieng  Mai,  and  often  on 
the  Laos  rivers  the  boats  capsize  when  the  boat- 
men are  polling  them  over  rapids  or  falls.  "I 
shall  never  forget  my  sensations,"  wrote  Mrs. 
Docld,  of  one  of  these  catastrophes,  "during  the 
five  minutes  that  elapsed,  from  the  time  they  be- 
gan to  pull  the  boat  up  over  the  falls,  until  I  saw 
it  fill,  sink,  reappear  riding  the  waves  upside  down, 
race  down  the  stream  and  disappear  around  a  bend 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  below.  Nor  later,  as  I  stood 
bewildered  and  saw  the  men  rush  past  me  as  fast  as 
they  could  over  the  hot  bowlders  and  jagged  rocks, 
Mr.  Dodd  with  a  white  face,  only  stopping  long 
enough  to  say  a  few  words,  when  I  was  left  alone, 
watching  the  big  waves  churn  themselves  into 
soap  suds,  as  I  had  done  before."  Across  coun- 
try the  travel  is  on  elephants. 

There  are  about  5,000,000  Laos  people,  most 
of  them  being  in  the  boundaries  of  Siam,  and  it  is 
among  these  that  the  Laos  Mission  is  located. 
They  have  proved  a  very  receptive  people,  free 
from  caste  and  natural  pride,  with  no  child  mar- 
riage, and  almost  no  polygamy,  peaceable  and 
kindly,  simple  in  habits  and  "  for  heathen,  com- 
paratively pure  in  their  lives."  While  Buddhists 
in  a  sense,  they  are  more  really  simple  demon  wor- 
shipers, as  the  Koreans  are,  with  the  innumerable 
silly  superstitions  such  a  religion  always  breeds. 
Among  these  superstitions,  however,  are  legends 
that  prepare  the  way  for  the  missionaries.  Five 
thousand  years  after  the  foundation  "of  Buddhism, 
they  believe,  a  reign  of  demons  will  come  for  one 
thousand  years,  and  then  the  true  religion  is  to 
appear  and  bring  the  salvation  which  Buddhism 


92  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

cannot  give.  "  Its  advent,"  says  Mr.  Dodd,  "is 
to  be  heralded  by  a  forerunner,  Punyah  Turn, 
who  will  prepare  the  way  .  .  .  the  rough  places 
shall  be  made  'as  smooth  as  a  temple  ground.' 
Then  the  elder  brother  of  Buddha  is  to  become 
incarnate  as  a  saviour.  His  name  is  Alen-yah 
Mettai.  Only  the  good  shall  be  able  to  see  him, 
but  all  who  do  see  him  shall  be  saved.  The 
proclamation  to  the  Laos  people  of  this  fullness  of 
time  and  the  completed  salvation  is  predicted  to 
be  by  a  foreigner  from  the  south.  He  is  to  be  a 
man  with  white  hair  and  a  long  beard,  who  will 
not  fly  in  the  air  like  a  bird,  neither  will  he  walk 
on  the  earth  like  a  beast,  but  who  will  come 
bringing  in  his  hands  the  true  ten  commandments. 
All  this  has  been  remarkably  fulfilled.  Not  quite 
thirty  years  ago,  the  Rev.  D.  McGilvary  and  the 
Rev.  J.  Wilson  came  to  Cheungmai  from  the 
south.  They  came  by  boat,  and  personally  they 
very  well  answered  the  description  of  the  heralds 
of  the  true  religion.  Nearly  every  year,  in  the  sixth 
month,  there  is  an  excitement  somewhere  in  the 
Laos  country  over  the  reputed  '  appearing '  of  the 
Messiah  or  his  forerunner.  Frequently  we  are  told 
when  urging  people  to  accept  Christ  at  once, 
'  Wait  this  year  ;  if  Punyah  Turn  does  not  appear 
in  the  sixth  month,  then  Jesus  must  be  the  One 
for  whom  we  are  looking." 

It  was  in  1868  that  Messrs.  McGilvary  and 
Wilson  came  to  Chieng  Mai  to  settle.  The  Laos 
King,  who  was  tributary  to  the  King  of  Siam,  at 
first  received  them  kindly,  but  his  friendship 
cooled  through  the  influence  of  a  mongrel  Portu- 
guese in  his  employ,  who  disliked  the  missionaries. 
After  he  left,  the  King  became  more  friendly,  but 
his  wrath  broke  out  when  some  of  the  people  were 
baptized.  Two  of  them  were  at  once  arrested 
and  confessed  before  the  authorities  that  they  had 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    SIAM    AND    LAOS  93 

abandoned  Buddhism.  "  The  death  yoke  was 
then  put  around  their  necks,  and  a  small  rope 
was  passed  through  the  holes  in  their  ears  (used 
for  earrings  by  all  natives),  and  carried  tightly 
over  the  beam  of  the  house.  After  being  thus 
tortured  all  night  they  were  again  examined  in  the 
morning,  but  steadfastly  refused  to  deny  their 
Lord  and  Saviour  even  in  the  face  of  death. 
They  prepared  for  execution  by  praying  unto 
him,  closing  with  the  words  '  Lord  Jesus,  receive 
my  spirit.'  Being  then  taken  off  to  the  jungle, 
they  were  clubbed  to  death  by  the  executioner, 
and  one  of  them,  not  dying  quickly  enough,  was 
thrust  through  the  heart  by  a  spear."  The 
regent  of  Siam  interfered  to  protect  the  mission- 
aries, and  then,  as  in  the  early  days,  the  blood  of 
the  martyrs  was  the  seed  of  the  Church.  Chris- 
tianity always  has  more  to  fear  from  patronizing 
compromise  than  from  persecuting  antagonism. 
Some  forces  are  strongest  against  resistance.  "  I 
am  happy,"  wrote  Neesima,  "  in  a  meditation  on 
the  marvelous  growth  of  Christianity  in  the 
world,  and  believe  that  if  it  finds  any  obstacles  it 
will  advance  still  faster  and  swifter,  as  the  stream 
does  run  faster  when  it  does  find  any  hindrances 
on  the  course." 

The  King  of  Laos  was  bent  on  expelling  the 
missionaries  as  well  as  on  killing  the  native 
Christians.  He  attributed  some  famine  in  his 
country  to  their  presence,  and  was  not  satisfied 
with  the  reply  of  the  United  States  Consul  Gen- 
eral in  Bangkok,  to  his  request  for  "  the  pulling 
up  of  the  missionary  McGilvary,"  when  the  Con- 
sul said,  "Orders  will  be  given  to  McGilvary  so 
to  comport  himself  that  no  famine  can  be  attrib- 
uted to  him  hereafter."  When  the  missionaries 
called  on  the  King,  and  expostulated  with  him 
for  the  murder  of  the  two  Christians,  Noi  Soonya 


94  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN   MISSIONS 

and  Nan  Chai,  he  said,  "  he  had  executed  them 
because  they  had  embraced  the  Christian  religion, 
and  he  would  continue  to  kill  all  who  did  the 
same."  At  the  time  he  was  about  to  visit  Bang- 
kok, and  prepared  to  expel  the  missionaries  when 
he  returned,  but  he  never  again  entered  his  capi- 
tal. He  died  on  the  way  home,  and  according 
to  the  Laos  custom,  his  corpse  was  not  allowed  to 
enter  the  city. 

The  only  other  especially  critical  time  in  the 
missionary  history  was  in  1878,  when  two  native 
Christians  came  to  be  married,  and  of  course  no 
provision  was  made  for  the  usual  feast  to  the 
demons.  Fresh  antagonism  sprung  from  this, 
which  was  settled  by  an  intervention  once  more 
of  the  King  of  Siam,  who  issued  a  "  Proclamation 
of  Religious  Liberty  to  the  Laos,"  granting  full 
toleration  and  rendering  possible  to  the  Christians 
a  conscientious  observance  of  the  Sabbath. 

One  of  the  two  Christians  involved  in  this 
marriage  was  Nan  Kip,  the  daughter  of  Nan  Intah, 
the  first  convert  among  the  Laos.  The  latter  was 
a  Buddhist  scholar  who  had  become  interested  in 
Christianity,  and  who  was  profoundly  impressed 
by  an  eclipse  which  the  missionaries  had  foretold. 
He  was  a  noble  and  useful  Christian  until  his 
death  in  1882,  when  "faithful  and  true,  with  a 
beautiful  trust  in  his  Saviour,  he  bade  his  children 
and  grandchildren  a  cheerful  farewell,  and  went 
to  be  with  Christ."  To  his  youngest  son,  he 
said  :  "I  am  walking  on  the  way  you  all  must  go, 
only  be  ready  for  our  Lord.  Oh,  my  son,  do  not 
fall  from  the  right  path.  Trust  in  the  Lord  now, 
and  do  his  work,  as  I  have  tried  to  do.  You 
will  surfer  many  trials,  but  they  will  be  forgotten 
when  the  day  of  reward  comes.  You  plant  the 
rice  fields  in  the  water  and  in  the  rain,  but  in 
three  months  from  now  you  will  gather  the  har- 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    SIAM    AND    LAOS  95 

vest.     Learn  from  the  yearly  lesson   of  life,  and 
strengthen  yourself  in  Jesus." 

For  seventeen  years  Chieng  Mai  was  the  only 
station  at  which  missionaries  resided,  although 
the  gospel  had  been  carried  far  and  wide  and  is 
now  spread  over  the  whole  land  by  the  Mission 
Press,  the  only  Laos  printing  press.  In  1885  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Peoples  occupied  Lakawn,  the  capital  of 
one  of  the  six  Laos  states,  Lakawn,  Lampoon, 
Chieng  Mai,  Muang  Nan,  Hluang  Prabang  and 
Muang  Pra.  All  of  these  states  "  are  independent 
of  each  other,  but  there  are  smaller  provinces  trib- 
utary to  these  larger  states,  yet  the  rulers  even  of 
the  minor  provinces  are  autocratic  in  rule  within 
their  own  territories.  Each  of  the  six  larger  states 
has  a  first  and  second  chief,  the  offices  being  filled 
by  appointment  of  the  King  of  Siam,  to  whom 
there  is  a  right  of  appeal  on  the  part  of  the  people, 
who  send  notice  to  Bangkok  on  the  decease  of  a 
chief,  with  a  private  intimation  of  their  views  as 
to  a  successor.  Tribute  is  paid  triennially  to  Siam 
in  the  form  of  gold  and  silver  boxes,  vases,  and 
jeweled  necklaces,  together  with  curious  gold  and 
silver  trees  valued  at  from  ^£15  to  ^135  each."  l 
The  capitals  of  five  of  the  six  states  have  been  oc- 
cupied as  stations,  but  Lampoon,  occupied  in  1891, 
is  now  a  sub-station  of  Chieng  Mai.  Muang  Pra 
was  settled  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Briggs  in  1893,  and 
Muang  Nan  in  1894  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Peoples  ; 
and  a  station  was  established  in  1897  at  Chieng 
Hai,  150  miles  north  of  Chieng  Mai,  by  Mr.  Dodd 
and  Dr.  Denman  and  their  wives.  A  fearful 
famine  swept  over  the  Laos  states  in  1893.  A  re- 
lief fund  was  at  once  sent  from  America,  which 
gave  the  missionaries  opportunity  to  supply  the 
needs  of  the  people  and  deepen  their  friendship 

1  Siam  and  Laos  as  Seen  by  our  American  Missionaries, 
p.  421  f. 


96  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

into  love.  Medical  work  is  carried  on  in  each  of 
the  stations,  and  the  whole  population  of  the  Siam- 
ese and  Laos  states  is  open  and  accessible.  No- 
where else  in  our  missions  have  there  been  so  few 
obstacles.  The  reports  of  the  missionaries  are 
full  every  year  of  accounts  of  warm  welcome  and 
unnumbered  opportunities. 

The  missionaries  have  acquired  great  influence 
in  the  country.  An  English  traveler,  Mr.  Hallett, 
studying  the  country  in  the  interest  of  railroads, 
writes,  in  A  Thousand  Miles  on  an  Elephant : 
"Nothing  struck  me  more  during  my  journeys, 
than  the  high  estimation  in  which  the  American 
missionaries  were  held  by  the  chiefs.  Not  only 
were  they  on  a  friendly  and  kindly  footing  with 
them,  but  by  their  bold  strictures  upon  acts  of  in- 
justice, and  by  exposing  and  expostulating  against 
the  wickedness  and  senselessness  of  certain  of  the 
reigning  superstitions,  they  had  become  a  benefi- 
cent power  in  the  country." 

And  this  field  so  open,  so  hopeful,  is  our  field. 
In  1893  the  Mission  sent  an  appeal  to  the  home 
Church,  in  which  it  reminded  the  Church  of  this  : 
"  Tell  the  Church  that  the  hand  of  God  is  in  this 
matter.  The  Presbyterian  Church  has  a  free  field 
and  full  responsibility  in  this  Laos  land.  With  a 
meager  force,  and  working  on  a  small  scale,  we 
have  been  signally  blessed  in  the  past.  We  now 
appeal  to  the  Church  to  seize  the  opportune  mo- 
ment, obey  the  voice  of  Christ,  and  evangelize 
the  whole  land.  Our  appeal  is  sanctioned  by  the 
judgment  of  every  missionary  on  the  field,  by  un- 
usual providential  openings,  and  by  the  most  ur- 
gent necessities.  It  is  backed  by  the  prayers  of 
all  the  missionaries,  and,  since  the  first  day  of  the 
Week  of  Prayer,  by  the  daily  supplications  of 
hundreds  of  Laos  Christians." 

Shall  we  not  answer  the  appeal  of  such  a  mis- 


THE    MISSIONS    IN   SIAM   AND   LAOS  97 

sion  in  behalf  of  such  a  work,  a  work  already  so 
successful  that  Mr.  Hallett  places  its  commenda- 
tion in  the  forefront  of  his  book  : — 

"To 

The  American  Missionaries  in  Burmah, 

Siam,  and  the  Shan  States, 

I  dedicate  this  book, 

As  a  mark  of  the 

High  esteem  in  which  I  hold  the  noble  work 
The  American  Baptist  Mission  and 
The  American  Presbyterian  Mission 

Are  accomplishing 

In  civilizing  and  Christianizing 

The  people  of  Indo-China." 


THE  MISSIONS  IN  CHINA 


99 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    MISSIONS   IN   CHINA 

CHINA  is  the  only  nation  which  is  bound  by  un- 
ruptured  history  to  its  mythological  childhood. 
Every  other  nation  has  been  detached  from  the 
ideas  of  its  infancy  by  great  convulsions,  by  emi- 
gration from  the  scenes  of  its  early  life,  by  the 
conquest  or  influence  of  other  peoples,  or  by  the 
submergence  of  its  distinct  individuality  in 
superior  races.  But  China  reaches  back  into  the 
legendary  past,  and  preserves  the  fables  and  the 
childish  conceptions  of  national  infancy.  It  is 
told  of  Laotse,  the  founder  of  Taoism,  that  he  was 
eighty-one  years  old  when  he  was  born,  and  that 
his  hair  was  white  from  age.  He  was  called,  ac- 
cordingly, as  his  name  implies,  "The  Old  Boy." 
As  an  old  man  he  was  found  once  gamboling  on 
the  floor  as  a  child  to  amuse  his  aged  parents.  In 
his  antiquated  childishness  Laotse  is  a  good 
symbol  of  China,  the  most  ancient  and  the  most 
infantile  nation. 

No  nation  could  have  endured  with  a  continu- 
ous life  for  so  many  centuries  without  excellent 
qualities.  And  it  is  significant  that  no  mission- 
aries so  respect  the  people  for  whom  they  are 
working,  and  have  such  confidence  as  to  their 
worthy  character  and  hopeful  future,  even  though 
the  most  aged  of  all  peoples,  as  the  missionaries 
in  China.  They  have  surpassed  all  other  nations 
in  their  care  for  pure,  moral  instruction.  As  Mr. 
T.  T.  Meadows  says:  "  No  people  whether  of 
ancient  or  modern  times,  has  possessed  a  sacred 
101 


102  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

literature  so  completely  exempt  as  the  Chinese 
from  licentious  descriptions,  and  from  every  of- 
fensive expression.  There  is  not  a  single  sentence 
in  the  whole  of  their  sacred  books  and  their  an- 
notations that  may  not,  when  translated  word  for 
word,  be  read  aloud  in  any  family  in  England."  1 
And  Dr.  Nevius,  who  knew  and  loved  and  re- 
spected the  Chinese,  while  pointing  out  the  prev- 
alence of  vice  and  immorality,  yet  contrasts 
them  not  unfavorably  with  our  own  people,  and 
adds:  "I  believe  that,  taking  into  view  our  re- 
ligious and  spiritual  privileges  and  training,  we 
are  more  to  be  blamed  as  individuals  and  as  a  na- 
tion for  not  having  reached  a  higher  standard  of 
morality  than  the  Chinese  are." 

The  Chinese  are  a  patriarchal  people,  with  the 
social  ideas  and  organization  natural  to  a  village 
people,  such  as  the  Chinese  are.  Even  their 
cities  preserve  the  forms  and  habits  of  the  village 
life  in  which  the  great  mass  of  the  people  live.  A 
Chinese  "village  is  a  collection  of  low,  one-story 
adobe,  wooden,  or  brick  houses  closely  adjoining, 
surrounded  it  may  be,  with  a  brick  or  mud  wall 
for  defense  against  brigands,  and  overshadowed 
by  trees.  Centrally  located  is  the  village  well, 
and  often  near  by  is  seen  the  little  temple,  with  its 
shabby  array  of  local  deities.  Unless  large,  there 
is  scarcely  a  shop  to  be  found,  as  frequently  re- 
curring fairs  at  a  larger  adjacent  town  supply  the 
simple  outside  wants  of  the  villagers.  From  their 
homes  issue  at  an  early  hour  the  men  and  boys  en 
route  for  the  fields,  where  man  power  rather  than 
that  of  beast  is  mainly  employed.  Thence  they 
return  to  get  the  first  meal  of  the  day  at  eleven 
o'clock,  after  which  they  again  go  to  work,  not 
coming  back  until  six  or  seven  for  supper.  The 
women,  meanwhile,  if  they  have  not  gone  to  the 
1  Nevius,  China  and  the  Chinese,  p.  289. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    CHINA  103 

fields,  have  been  busy  with  their  children  and 
with  cooking,  spinning,  weaving,  caring  for  the 
family  wardrobe,  and  gossiping  or  quarreling. 
And  so  the  life  goes  on,  without  any  knowledge  of 
a  Sabbath,  and  alleviated  by  only  a  few  holidays, 
chief  among  which  is  the  New  Year."  x 

There  is  much  to  darken  the  picture  of  China 
which  even  those  bent  on  seeing  the  good  cannot 
suppress.  "I  once  saw  two  or  three  thousand 
women,"  says  Dr.  Martin,  "  reciting  prayers  to 
Buddha,  on  the  occasion  of  a  festival.  '  Why  aie 
all  the  worshipers  women,  and  what  are  they 
praying  for  ?  '  I  inquired.  '  They  are  praying 
that  they  may  be  born  into  the  world  as  men,'  was 
the  answer — so  unhappy,  as  well  as  inferior,  are 
they  taught  to  consider  their  present  condition. 
Morally,  however,  they  are  China's  better  half — 
modest,  graceful,  and  attractive.  Intellectually, 
they  are  not  stupid,  but  ignorant,  left  to  grow  up 
in  a  kind  of  twilight,  without  the  benefit  of 
schools.  What  they  are  capable  of  may  be  in- 
ferred from  the  fact  that,  in  spite  of  disad- 
vantages, many  of  them  are  found  on  the  roll  of 
honor  as  poets,  historians,  and  rulers.  Some  of 
the  brightest  minds  I  ever  met  in  China  were 
those  of  girls  in  our  mission  schools.  Woman 
ignorant  has  made  China  Buddhist ;  will  not 
woman  educated  make  her  Christian  ?  The 
national  literature  needs  women  to  purify  it ;  for 
while  the  sacred  books  are  pure,  novels  and  jest 
books  are  unspeakably  filthy,  which  would  not  be 
the  case  if  they  were  expected  to  pass  under  the 
eyes  of  women . "  2 

The  word  China  is  not  a  Chinese  word.  The  Chi- 
nese call  their  own  country  "  Middle  Kingdom," 
or  "Middle  Flowery  Kingdom,"  or  "Heavenly 

1  Beach,  Dawn  on  the  Hills  of  T'aug,  p.  40. 

2  A  Cycle  of  Cathay,  p.  82  f. 


104  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Flowery  Kingdom."  China  proper  is  about  one- 
half  the  size  of  the  United  States,  but  when  the 
dependencies  are  included,  it  is  a  territory  as  large 
as  Europe  and  one-third  more.  The  population 
is  supposed  to  be  between  300,000,000  and  400,- 
000,000.  About  one-half  of  the  population  is 
estimated  to  live  on  the  Great  Plain,  lying  be- 
tween and  beyond  the  Hoang  Ho  and  Yangtse 
Rivers.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  an  average  of 
850  people  live  on  each  square  mile  of  this  plain, 
while  in  Bengal  the  average  per  square  mile  is 
471,  and  in  Belgium,  the  most  thickly  populated 
land  in  Europe,  571.  Yet,  comparing  the  entire 
Chinese  Empire  with  the  German  Empire,  Dr. 
Faber  points  out  that  the  average  population  of 
Germany  is  three  times  denser  than  the  average 
population  of  China  ;  and  that  "  China  ought  to 
be  able  comfortably  to  support  at  least  five  times 
the  number  of  its  present  inhabitants ;  for  not 
only  are  its  physical  and  climatic  conditions  more 
favorable  than  those  of  Germany,  but  the  Chinese 
are  on  the  whole,  more  frugal  than  the  Ger- 
mans." 1 

The  Chinese  are  both  a  materialistic  and  a 
superstitious  people.  The  ethical  code  of  the  na- 
tion is  Confucianism,  which  is  the  political  code 
also.  "The  five  relations  underlying  the  Con- 
fucian state — those  existing  between  prince  and 
minister,  father  and  son,  husband  and  wife,  elder 
and  younger  brothers,  and  between  friends — are 
thus  described  in  a  primer  that  has  been  com- 
mitted to  memory  by  more  boys  than  any  other  in 
existence  :  '  Affection  between  father  and  son ;  con- 
cord between  husband  and  wife;  kindness  on  the 
part  of  the  elder  brother,  and  deference  on  the 
part  of  the  younger;  order  between  juniors  and 
seniors;  sincerity  between  friends  and  associates; 

1  China  in  the  Light  of  History,  p.  2. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    CHINA  105 

respect  on  the  part  of  the  ruler,  and  loyalty  on 
that  of  -the  minister — these  are  the  ten  righteous 
courses  equally  binding  on  all  men.'  'The  five 
regular  constituents  of  our  moral  nature,'  known 
as  the  wu  ch'ang,  are  benevolence,  righteousness, 
propriety,  knowledge,  and  truth,  or  faithfulness, 
while  the  five  blessings,  or  happiness,  as  named  in 
the  Shu  Ching,  are  long  life,  wealth,  tranquillity, 
desire  for  virtue,  and  a  natural  death.  A  study  of 
these  relations,  virtues  and  blessings,  together 
with  that  of  the  chun-tzu-jen,  or  princely  man, 
and  of  the  individual  as  related  to  the  stars,  will 
acquaint  one  with  the  prevalent  Confucian 
ideas."  J 

Confucianism  has  shown  itself  a  powerful  pre- 
servative force.  It  has  worked  as  well  as  any 
political  and  moral  system  ever  devised  for  pro- 
ducing order.  It  has,  however,  supported  an 
absolute  despotism  which  has  been  tempered  in 
fact  by  the  patriarchal  institutions  of  village  life, 
but  has  utterly  precluded  progress.  Under  it 
"  the  system  of  social  life  is  tyranny.  Women 
are  slaves.  Children  have  no  rights  in  relation 
to  their  parents,  whilst  subjects  are  placed  in  the 
position  of  children  with  regard  to  their  superiors. 
.  .  .  The  history  of  China  shows  that  Con- 
fucianism is  incapable  of  effecting  for  the  people 
a  new  birth  to  a  higher  life  and  nobler  efforts ; 
and  Confucianism  is  now  in  practical  life  quite 
alloyed  with  Shamanistic  and  Buddhistic  ideas 
and  practices."2 

That  is  a  significant  testimony  to  the  necessi- 
ties of  the  human  heart.  Confucianism  refuses 
to  say  anything  about  the  future,  or  about  the 
human  soul.  And  the  Chinese,  while  accepting 

1  Beach,  Dawn  on  the  Hills  of  T'ang,  p.  65  f. 

2  Faber,  Systematical  Digest  of  the  Doctrines  of  Con- 
fucius, p.  126  f. 


106  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

it,  have  accordingly  added  to  it  those  ideas  from 
Buddhism  and  Taoism  which  the  spirit  of  man 
must  have. 

Two  great  things  which  Confucianism  has  done 
have  made  mission  work  in  China  difficult.  It 
has  exaggerated  filial  piety  into  deification  of  par- 
ents, and  made  ancestral  worship  with  its  idola- 
try and  the  evils  it  produces,  concubinage,  re- 
venge, superstition,  congestion  of  population, 
destruction  of  individual  liberty,  such  an  obstacle 
to  the  acceptance  of  Christianity  that  as  Ball  says, 
"Every  other  form  of  worship  and  religion  they 
are  willing  to  give  up,  but  this  is  so  interwoven 
into  the  texture  and  fabric  of  their  everyday  life, 
and  has  such  a  firm  hold  on  them,  that  scarcely 
anything,  short  of  the  miraculous,  forces  them  to 
give  it  up,  with  such  tenacity  of  purpose  do  they 
cling>to  it."  1  The  other  difficulty  Confucianism 
has  helped  to  create,  is  the  conservatism,  the 
self-satisfaction,  the  conceit  of  the  Chinese. 
What  they  do  not  know  is  not  valuable.  All 
foreigners  are  inferior.  China  wishes  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  them.  As  the  Emperor  Yung 
Ching  once  said  to  a  deputation  of  foreigners : 
"China  will  want  for  nothing  when  you  cease  to 
live  in  it,  and  your  absence  will  not  cause  it  any 
loss." 

The  first  missionaries  to  China,  after  the  legen- 
dary mission  of  Thomas,  were  the  Nestorians, 
who  came  in  the  seventh  century,  and  for  at  least 
two  hundred  years  met  with  real  success;  but 
they  never  preached  a  pure  gospel.  Jesus  was 
not  to  them  a  divine  Christ.  And  they  com- 
promised too  much  with  the  superstitions  of  the 
land,  and  relied  on  the  Emperor  and  great  men, 
boasting  of  imperial  favor,  instead  of  planting  the 
gospel  solidly  in  the  common  life  of  the  people. 
1  Things  Chinese,  p.  16. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN   CHINA  1 07 

The  next  missionaries  were  the  Roman  Catholics, 
who  came  in  the  sixteenth  century  and  exerted  a 
great  influence,  especially  when  Kanghsi  "prob- 
ably the  ablest  and  most  enlightened  sovereign 
who  ever  sat  on  the  Chinese  throne"  came  into 
power.  But  disputes  arose  among  the  mission- 
aries, which  were  referred  both  to  the  Pope  and 
the  Emperor,  and  they  gave  different  decisions. 
"  The  missionaries  of  course,  were  bound  to  obey 
the  Pope,  and  this  setting  up  of  an  outside  au- 
thority over  that  of  their  own  Emperor,  incensed 
the  Chinese,  and  the  storm  which  was  gathering, 
burst  in  the  next  reign,  when,  in  A.  D.  1724,  an 
edict  was  issued  against  them  prohibiting  the 
propagation  of  Roman  Catholicism,  and  only  re- 
taining the  few  missionaries  required  for  scientific 
purposes  in  Peking  ;  all  the  others  were  required 
to  leave  the  country."  l 

When  the  first  Protestant  missionary,  Robert 
Morrison,  came  in  1807,  Christianity  was  a  for- 
bidden religion,  and  all  foreigners  were  bitterly 
despised.  As  Dr.  Morrison  wrote:  "The  law 
views  them  as  rivals  and  enemies,  to  be  distrusted 
and  guarded  against.  Hence  it  is  that  all  inter- 
course with  them,  except  under  the  immediate 
eyes  of  government,  is  constructive  treason. 
A  foreigner  must  not  buy  Chinese  books ;  he 
must  not  see  their  gazettes ;  no  scholar  or  gentle- 
man or  official  person  must  visit  him.  He  must 
remain  in  his  warehouse  or  factory,  and  be 
guarded  by  hong  merchants,  compradores  or 
coolies."  One  of  Dr.  Morrison's  teachers  always 
carried  poison  so  as  to  be  able  to  escape  from  the 
torture  he  would  have  to  face  should  he  be  ap- 
prehended for  the  crime  of  helping  Dr.  Morrison 
to  learn  the  written  Chinese  language.  Canton 
was  the  only  place  where  foreign  merchants  were 
1  Ball,  Things  Chinese,  p.  254. 


I08  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

allowed,  and  they  could  remain  only  a  short 
time  each  year,  and  never  enter  the  gates  of  the 
city. 

As  no  foreigners  were  allowed  in  China  save 
within  the  limits  of  the  few  warehouses  on  the 
river  at  Canton,  the  first  Presbyterian  mission- 
aries were  sent  in  1838  to  work  among  the 
Chinese  emigrants  at  Singapore.  The  first  mis- 
sionaries were  the  Rev.  Robert  W.  Orr  and  his 
wife,  and  the  Rev.  John  A.  Mitchell.  In  less 
than  a  year,  Mr.  Mitchell  died,  and  in  two  years 
Mr.  Orr's  health  failed,  and  he  was  compelled  to 
return.  But  missions  are  not  dependent  upon  the 
immortality  of  men,  and  reinforcements  had  al- 
ready come  in  the  Rev.  Thomas  L.  McBryde  and 
his  wife,  increased  by  the  arrival  in  1841  of  James 
C.  Hepburn,  M.  D.,  and  Mrs.  Hepburn,  who, 
after  a  long  service  in  China  and  Japan,  still  sur- 
vive, loved  and  honored  by  the  whole  Church. 
The  Rev.  Walter  M.  Lowrie  arrived  in  1842.  On 
the  voyage  from  Macao  to  Singapore  he  was 
shipwrecked,  but  sailed  in  an  open  boat  four  hun- 
dred miles  to  Luban,  a  small  island  near  Manila, 
and  then  returned  to  Macao. 

The  Opium  War  was  just  ending,  and  the 
Treaty  of  Nanking,  which  terminated  it,  made 
Canton,  Amoy,  Foochow,  Ningpo  and  Shanghai 
open  ports  for  trade  and  the  residence  of  foreign- 
ers. Canton,  Amoy  and  Ningpo  were  at  once 
selected  for  stations,  and  the  coming  of  new  mis- 
sionaries, among  them  D.  B.  McCartee,  M.  D.,  who 
died  in  the  summer  of  1900  at  the  age  of  eighty-one, 
and  the  Rev.  Andrew  P.  Happer,  M.  D.,  who  died 
in  1894  at  the  age  of  seventy-six,  enabled  the  Board 
to  send  five  men  to  Ningpo,  three  to  Amoy  and 
three  to  Canton.  These  three  stations  have  now 
grown  to  six  missions:  Canton,  Hainan,  Central 
China,  East  Shantung,  West  Shantung,  and  Pe- 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    CHINA  109 

king,  with  the  nucleus  of  a  seventh  mission  at 
Siang-tau  in  the  province  of  Hunan. 

Dr.  Happer  and  Mr.  French  living  for  a  while 
in  the  Portuguese  settlement  of  Macao,  secured  a 
residence  in  Canton  in  1847.  They  were  shut  up 
at  first  in  their  own  houses,  and  could  only  visit 
the  neighboring  streets  by  stealth.  It  was  two 
years  before  Mr.  French  could  rent  a  chapel  "  in 
a  long  dark  alley,"  and  three  before  Dr.  Happer 
secured  another  "  near  a  public  street."  In  this 
chapel  the  Mission  began  that  daily  preaching  to 
heathen  which  has  never  ceased  to  this  day,  save 
during  the  Arrow  War,  when  the  dwelling  houses 
of  the  missionaries  were  destroyed,  the  schools 
broken  up,  and  evangelistic  work  was  suspended. 
"  Not  only  residents  of  the  city,  but  traders  and 
travelers  even  from  the  remote  boundaries  of  the 
province  and  beyond,  were  curious,  often  eager, 
listeners.  They  could  be  numbered  by  the  hun- 
dred thousand,  for  in  the  best  days  of  this  work 
sometimes  a  thousand  persons  in  the  same  day 
heard  the  gospel  preached  in  the  chapels."  The 
most  famous  of  the  chapel  preachers  was  Mr. 
Preston,  who  died  in  1877,  after  twenty-three 
years'  service.  With  the  exception  of  the  time 
given  to  one  visit  to  America,  he  had  a  daily  serv- 
ice for  years.  He  was  perhaps  the  best  speaker 
of  Chinese  in  Southern  China,  and  though  not  an 
impassioned  speaker  in  English,  he  took  fire  when 
he  began  to  preach  in  Chinese.  His  chapel  would 
be  crowded,  and  men  from  the  country  would 
come  again  and  again,  filled  with  wonder,  to  hear 
the  marvelous  speech  of  the  winsome,  cordial, 
gentle  man,  who  knew  their  hearts  and  could 
speak  to  them,  so  that  they  understood  the  Word 
of  Life. 

But  the  gospel  has  been  preached  in  Canton  in 
other  ways  than  in  the  street  chapels.  On  a  large 


110  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

sign  over  one  of  the  landings  along  the  river,  are 
the  three  Chinese  characters,  "  Broad  Benevo- 
lence Hospital."  It  is  the  missionary  hospital  be- 
longing to  the  Medical  Missionary  Society  organ- 
ized in  1838,  the  first  society  of  the  sort  in  the 
world.  It  was  composed  of  foreigners  who  took 
an  interest  in  the  people.  John  C.  Green  was  one 
of  its  first  trustees  and  auditors.  Thomas  R. 
Colledge,  of  the  East  India  Company,  was  for 
fifty  years  its  president,  and  in  dying  said  of  it, 
"  It  is  the  one  good  work  of  my  life."  Two  men 
have  seen  the  whole  history  of  the  hospital — Dr. 
Peter  Parker  and  Dr.  John  G.  Kerr,  who  is  still 
living,  and  who  became  connected  with  the  hos- 
pital, for  which  the  Presbyterian  Mission  provides 
the  doctors,  in  1854.  In  the  years  since,  nearly 
a  million  and  a  quarter  patients  have  been  treated. 
These  patients  have  come  from  all  parts  of  the 
Quang-tung  province,  and  missionaries  and  native 
preachers  are  constantly  gathering  in  men  and 
women  who  heard  of  Christ  and  believed  in  the 
hospital.  All  the  patients  who  can  are  expected 
to  attend  morning  and  evening  prayers.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  sight  of  that  audience  as  Dr. 
Henry  preached  to  it — old  men  and  women 
bowed  down  with  disease  ;  young  men  and  women, 
bandaged,  limping,  halt ;  little  children  running 
about  over  the  tiled  floors,  and  when  they  fell 
down  bringing  their  dirty  little  hands  to  be  healed 
with  a  mother's  kiss,  just  as  children  in  happier 
lands  do;  some  leaning  forward  intently,  others 
with  bowed  heads,  while  the  pleading,  vibrant 
voice  of  the  preacher  athrill  with  his  message, 
declared  to  them  the  word  of  God.  The  doctors 
of  the  hospital  have  for  years  multiplied  them- 
selves by  training  men  and  sending  them  out  to 
deal  intelligently  and  honestly  with  the  diseases 
of  their  people,  not  dosing  them  with  powdered 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    CHINA  III 

tiger  bones,  or  with  compounds  of  the  eyes,  skins 
and  bladders  of  frogs,  such  as  the  quacks  may  be 
seen  making  in  the  medicine  shops. 

The  schools,  both  boys'  and  girls',  have  for 
years  preached  the  gospel,  too.  From  the  True 
Light  Seminary,  with  which  Miss  Noyes  has  been 
connected  for  twenty-five  years,  five  hundred 
women  and  one  thousand  girls  have  gone  out, 
scores  of  them  to  give  all  their  time  to  Christian 
service  and  hundreds  of  others  to  proclaim  the 
gospel  through  the  activities  of  common  life.  The 
wife  of  Li  Hung  Chang's  doctor  was  one  of  these 
girls.  Others  are  in  Vancouver,  San  Francisco, 
Portland,  Chicago  and  Washington,  in  Honolulu, 
Singapore,  Penang  and  Maulmain,  and  in  cities 
and  villages  from  Hong  Kong  to  Kwang-si,  or  the 
mountains  of  Hunan.  Wherever  they  go  a 
knowledge  of  the  gospel  goes.  The  graduates 
know  the  whole  New  Testament  by  heart,  and 
many  add  to  this,  Genesis,  Exodus,  Psalms, 
Proverbs,  and  Isaiah.  The  aim  of  the  school  is 
Christ  in  the  life,  rather  than  a  little  knowledge 
in  the  mind,  though  its  work  in  every  department 
is  the  most  thorough  education  given  to  women 
anywhere  in  South  China.  When  we  came  away 
from  Canton,  the  pupils  sent  the  following  letter  : 

"  To  the  Brethren  and  Sisters  of  the  Church  in 

America : 

"  We  the  (Chinese)  teachers  and  pupils  in  the 
'  True  Light  Seminary  '  send  respectful  greetings. 
We  have  already  heard  of  the  greatness  of  your 
country,  and  the  love  of  Christians  embracing  all 
countries,  and  sending  the  true  doctrine  also  to 
China.  We  have  not  yet  attained  to  such  virtue 
but  desire  that  we  may.  .  .  .  Our  country  is 
now  as  one  awaking  from  a  dream,  like  a  sinking 
ship  which  received  succor.  It  seems  almost  in- 


112  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

credible  to  us  women  of  China  that  we  may  have 
the  happiness,  first  of  receiving  this  new  doctrine, 
and  second,  the  opportunity  of  studying  and  ob- 
taining an  education.  Although  the  younger  pu- 
pils are  but  ten  years  of  age  and  the  elder  ones 
are  more  than  fifty,  all  may  study,  and  we  know 
the  heavenly  Father  will  reject  neither  the  old 
nor  the  young.  .  .  .  We  have  among  our  pupils 
some  women  who  formerly  trusted  in  fasting  and 
their  works  of  merit  for  salvation  ;  now  they  have 
become  Christians.  Some  of  us  have  endured 
much  persecution  from  our  friends  and  relatives 
but  we  count  it  joy  to  suffer  for  Christ's  sake. 
.  .  .  There  are  twenty-six  of  the  pupils  who  were 
baptized  in  infancy  and  so  have  never  bowed  be- 
fore the  idols.  Thinking  of  all  this,  we  write  to 
express  our  heartfelt  gratitude  for  what  you  have 
done  for  us.  ...  Truly  your  hearts  are  like  the 
heart  of  Jesus.  We  have  in  China  the  saying, 
'  Gifts  which  are  received  are  remembered  for  a 
thousand  years.'  We  shall  never  forget  your 
kindness.  .  .  .  '  Finally  brethren,  pray  for  us 
that  the  word  of  the  Lord  may  have  free 
course  and  be  glorified  even  as  it  is  with  you.' 
WTe  have  written  this  letter  to  send  to  you  our 
greetings. ' ' 

The  Christian  College  which  has  been  estab- 
lished in  Canton  is  the  result  of  the  work  of  Dr. 
Happer,  who  raised  the  endowment  of  $  100,000 
for  it. 

The  first  missionaries  had  all  they  could  do  in 
Canton,  but  in  late  years  the  work  has  grown  out 
along  the  river  courses  north  and  south,  east  and 
west.  How  this  work  is  done,  and  what  it  means, 
I  can  best  illustrate  by  describing  a  visit  to  the 
populous  region  south  of  Canton,  known  as  The 
Four  Districts. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    CHINA  113 

A  network  of  yellow  streams,  narrowing  and 
broadening,  winding  in  every  direction  over  the 
wide  plain ;  low  fields  bounded  by  them,  some 
flooded,  some  half  covered  with  the  water,  but 
green  with  the  tender  freshness  of  the  young  rice 
plants,  some  barely  raised  above  the  water's 
reach,  and  verdant  with  the  low-cropped  mul- 
berry bushes  which  feed  the  silkworms  of  one  of 
the  finest  silk  districts  in  China ;  boats  of  all 
sorts  passing  to  and  fro,  large  two-story  passage 
boats  like  two  sets  of  pigeonholes,  one  above  the 
other,  and  each  hole  full  of  Chinese  passengers, 
packed  in  like  chickens  in  a  crate,  and  all  dressed 
in  monotonous  blue ;  small  house  boats  with  roofs 
of  bamboo  or  palmetto  leaf,  with  the  family  babies 
leaning  over  the  side,  the  family  pig  wiggling  his 
curly  tail  on  the  prow,  and  the  family  poultry  in 
a  cage  at  the  stern  ;  farmers'  boats  bound  to  and 
from  the  rice  fields  with  the  young  plants  ready 
for  transplanting,  or  with  loads  of  dead  grass  for 
fuel ;  and  now  a  light  skiff  drawn  by  a  buffalo 
wading  or  swimming  in  the  stream,  with  only  his 
homely  face  above  water,  a  small  boy  driving  him 
with  a  rope  ;  guard  boats  full  of  the  sort  of  sol- 
diers who  were  of  use  some  centuries  ago,  but 
whose  pikes  are  children's  weapons  now,  with  an 
old  cannon  mounted  in  a  conspicuous  place  to 
give  the  impression  that  its  custodians  think  it 
could  go  off;  men  and  women  in  the  wet  fields, 
preparing  the  ground  for  the  rice  with  great  hoes, 
or  plowing  or  harrowing  with  buffaloes,  or  setting 
the  rice  plants,  knee  deep  often  in  the  loam,  chil- 
dren scraping  the  river  bottoms  for  shellfish,  or 
gathering  greens ;  the  whole  country  so  flat  that 
the  sails  of  the  boats  in  the  myriad  streams  seem 
to  spring  from  the  ground,  while  great  mountains 
yet  loom  up  misty  and  blue  in  the  distance, — 
these  were  a  few  of  the  many  and  fascinating 


114  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

sights  which  we  glided  past  as  we  sat  on  the  roof 
of  a  hotau  boat, — a  clumsy  sort  of  house  boat, — 
and  were  towed  by  one  of  the  pigeonholed 
passage  boats,  which  in  turn  was  towed  by  a  little 
Chinese  steam  tug,  southward  into  this  section  of 
the  field  of  the  Canton  Mission. 

The  Four  Districts  constitute  one  of  the  most 
populous  and  prosperous  sections  of  the  Kwang 
Tung  Province,  which  in  its  turn  is  one  of  the 
most  prosperous  provinces  of  the  Empire.  Vil- 
lages are  as  close  together  as  are  the  separate 
farmhouses  even  of  a  thickly  settled  Pennsylvania 
county,  and  large  cities  lie  abundantly  in  the 
midst  of  the  villages.  Here  and  there  the  pawn 
houses  stand  out  conspicuously,  testifying  to  the 
Chinaman's  anticipation  of  the  latest  civilization 
and  to  the  density  of  the  population.  For  the 
pawn  house  is  in  the  nature  of  a  storage  ware- 
house, in  which  winter  clothes  are  stored  for  the 
summer,  and  summer  clothes  for  the  winter,  in- 
dividual houses  being  open  and  without  means  of 
protecting  or  preserving  things  of  value.  And 
each  pawn  house  represents  at  least  ten  thousand 
people.  They  are  the  highest  and  best  built 
buildings  in  the  landscape,  with  solid  walls,  win- 
dows too  small  for  entrance,  iron  prongs  protrud- 
ing from  the  roof,  and  heaps  of  stones  ready  there 
to  be  cast  on  the  heads  of  assailants. 

The  villages  in  The  Four  Districts  are  well 
constructed,  of  a  fine  quality  of  bricks  of  a  drab 
color,  and  of  tile  roofing.  A  Chinese  village 
here  is  the  embodiment  of  the  Chinese  character. 
Its  superstition  is  seen  in  the  selection  of  the  vil- 
lage site,  which  must  be  such  as  to  secure  for  the 
village  immunity  from  the  influences  of  evil 
spirits,  whose  coming  must  be  impeded  by  a 
proper  surrounding  configuration  of  the  country, 
which  also  must  be  such  as  to  secure  and  retain 


THE    MISSIONS   IN    CHINA  11$ 

the  good  influences  that  geomancy  finds  in  the 
right  relation  of  hills,  supporting  the  village  be- 
hind and  in  slopes  of  the  land,  and  winding 
streams  in  front.  Its  stolidity  and  solidity  are 
expressed  in  the  dull  and  sturdy  styles  of  archi- 
tecture, while  its  clannishness  and  exclusiveness 
are  adequately  represented  in  the  inhospitable 
and  uninviting  aspect  of  the  village  exterior.  If 
two  rivers  join  near  the  village,  a  pagoda  will 
probably  be  found  at  their  junction  to  prevent  the 
outflow  of  the  good  influences  which  are  asso- 
ciated with  streams.  Usually  the  pagoda  takes 
the  form  of  a  scholar's  pencil  and  may  contain  an 
image  of  the  god  of  letters,  so  that  literary  bless- 
ings may  be  brought  to  the  place,  and  some  of 
the  village  scholars  win  scholars'  degrees.  Where 
such  degrees  have  been  won,  poles  are  erected  in 
honor  of  the  winner  before  the  village  ancestral 
temple,  and  his  glory  falls  upon  his  house  and  his 
clan. 

Almost  all  of  the  Chinese  who  emigrate  to 
other  countries  go  from  The  Four  Districts. 
The  Chinese  who  go  to  other  countries  come 
back  and  invest  their  money  here.  Many  of  the 
new,  well-built  villages  represent  their  earnings, 
and  as  we  walked  from  one  to  another  we  often  met 
their  cheerful  greetings.  "Hello,  missionaries! 
where  you  go?"  asked  one  old  man,  who  was 
leading  a  little  girl  along  a  narrow  path — but  all 
the  roads  in  this  region  are  paths,  and  the  paths  are 
narrow.  To  our  answer  and  return  inquiry  he 
said,  in  his  curious  English,  "  I  go  walk  with  my 
little  girl.  I  been  two,  three  times  to  Californy. 
I  go  again  soon.  No,  I  not  take  little  girl.  Too 
rough,  seasick ;  and  then  bad  people.  How  you 
feel?  Good-by." 

Some  of  these  men  come  back  with  an  evil 
report  of  Christianity.  Can  we  blame  them? 


Il6  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

What  did  they  see?  Others  come  back  with  the 
new  life  in  their  hearts,  and  build  chapels,  support 
preachers,  establish  schools,  and  preach  Christ. 
One  of  these  told  me  of  his  opening  a  school  in 
his  village.  There  was  great  opposition,  and  the 
men  came  to  him,  and  said,  as  he  expressed  it 
quaintly,  "  You  open  school,  we  hit  it  with 
stones.  Yes,  we  put  the  rock  on  it." 

In  this  great  field  the  English  Wesleyans,  the 
Southern  Baptists,  and  the  American  Board,  have 
a  few  chapels,  but  most  of  the  work  has  been  es- 
tablished and  is  carried  on  by  the  American 
Presbyterians. 

In  company  with  the  Rev.  A.  A.  Fulton  who 
is  in  charge  of  the  field  I  climbed  up  the  two 
highest  mountains  in  the  field,  and  looked  over 
the  land.  It  was  the  season  for  worshiping  the 
graves.  The  familiar  Chinese  idea  is  that  there 
are  three  souls,  or  that  the  one  soul  becomes 
triple  at  death,  and  that  when  a  man  dies,  one 
soul  goes  into  the  other  world,  one  goes  into  the 
ancestral  tablet,  and  one  into  the  grave.  There 
must  accordingly  be  a  triple  worship, — of  the 
spirits  of  the  other  world  who  have  control  over 
the  soul  that  has  gone  to  them,  and  of  the  soul  in 
the  tablet,  and  of  the  soul  in  the  grave.  The 
popular  notions  of  geomancy  make  the  selection 
of  sites  for  burial  a  matter  of  vital  importance. 
A  wrong  site  may  doom  the  posterity  to  barren- 
ness of  literary  and  military  honors,  and  to  misery 
and  poverty.  The  proper  sites  are  in  the  hills. 
On  these  two  mountains,  accordingly,  the  hun- 
dreds of  graves  showed  the  marks  of  filial 
worship. 

As  we  climbed  one  of  the  hills,  the  sons  of  the 
dead  were  engaged  in  their  act  of  devotion.  The 
little  amphitheater  cut  in  the  hillside,  in  the 
middle  of  which  was  the  grave,  had  been  cleaned 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    CHINA  1 17 

and  put  in  order.  A  fresh  sod  had  been  cut  and 
laid  reversed  upon  the  grave,  which  was  decorated 
also  with  some  little  tinseled  figures  of  red  paper. 
Before  the  grave,  which  looked  off  across  the 
wide  plain,  the  men  stood,  and  spread  the  food 
of  their  offering, — a  bowl  of  boiled  pork,  a  bowl 
of  rice,  and  some  vermicelli.  In  front  of  these 
they  put  five  little  cups  and  five  sets  of  chop- 
sticks. The  odor  of  the  viands  was  supposed  to 
rise  to  the  spirit  in  the  grave,  and  refresh  it.  The 
real  viands  were  then  eaten  with  great  relish  by 
the  worshipers.  This  makes  the  worship  of  the 
tombs  a  sort  of  picnic.  Beside  the  grave  the 
worshipers  were  burning  a  bundle  of  paper,  sup- 
posed to  represent  money.  How  would  a  spirit 
know  the  difference?  The  fire  turned  this  to 
spirit  money,  and  so  gave  the  deceased  a  supply 
for  the  coming  year. 

It  was  a  relief  to  turn  away  from  this  and  to 
breathe  the  clear,  unsuperstitious  air  which  blew 
over  the  mountain  tops.  But  what  a  vision  it 
was  from  them  !  From  A  sai  shan,  or  West 
Mountain,  we  looked  down  on  range  after  range 
of  hills,  covered  with  graves,  made  conspicuous 
by  their  paper  adornments,  and  out  over  reach 
after  reach  of  level  plain,  dotted  with  villages  and 
cities.  San  Ning  with  fifty  thousand  people  lay 
just  below  us.  There  was  a  beautiful  chapel 
there,  built  largely  by  money  given  by  Chinese 
Christians  in  California,  and  there  were  half  *a 
dozen-  or  more  chapels  of  our  own  and  other  mis- 
sions in  other  places  within  sight.  But  they  were 
as  nothing.  I  tried  to  count  the  villages.  To 
the  south  there  were  four  hundred  and  seventy- 
five,  and  to  the  north  three  hundred  and  fourteen  ; 
and  the  mists  hung  about  the  distant  hills,  hiding 
other  towns  from  sight.  Hundreds  of  thousands 
of  souls,  possibly  millions,  were  in  sight  from  that 


Il8  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

hill ;  and  there  was  at  work  for  them  a  smaller 
evangelistic  agency  than  can  be  found  in  scores 
of  towns  of  less  than  two  thousand  population  that 
could  be  named,  in  Pennsylvania. 

On  the  very  summit  of  A  sai  shan  was  a  grave, 
and  on  the  grave  lay  a  dead  man.  We  stood  be- 
side him  and  looked  down.  He  had  not  been 
there  many  days.  His  pipe  and  flint  box  lay  by  his 
hand,  and  his  face  was  turned  up  to  the  sky. 
Perhaps  he  had  gone  there  to  worship,  and,  as  he 
worshiped  the  spirits  of  his  fathers,  his  own  spirit 
had  gone  to  join  theirs.  Very  still  and  quiet  he 
lay.  He  was  beyond  speech,  beyond  the  sense 
of  earthly  need.  What  he  knew,  we  knew  not. 
And  I  lifted  my  eyes,  and  looked  out  over  the 
seven  hundred  and  eighty-nine  villages  of  the 
plain.  Very  still  and  quiet  they  lay.  They 
were  beyond  speech,  beyond  the  sense  of  spiritual 
need.  What  they  knew  not,  we  knew.  The 
dead  man  lay  on  the  lonely  grave  on  the  hill. 
And  the  shadow  of  the  death  of  a  Christless  life 
hung  over  the  villages  of  the  plain.  The  man  on 
the  hill  was  beyond  help.  The  men  on  the  plain 
wait  for  it.  How  long  will  they  wait  ?  "  How 
long,  O  Lord  !  How  long?"  cries  the  Church. 
"How  long,  O  Church!  How  long?"  answers 
the  Lord. 

In  addition  to  the  work  in  this  field,  which  is 
carried  on  from  Canton,  the  Mission  has  estab- 
lished country  stations  at  Lien  Chow  (Sam  Kong) 
on  the  border  of  Hunan,  many  days'  journey 
from  Canton,  where  Dr.  Machle  was  able  to  settle 
in  1890,  at  Yeung  Kong,  150  miles  southwest  of 
Canton,  whence  a  mob  drove  away  the  Rev. 
Andrew  Beattie  and  Dr.  D.  A.  Beattie  and  their 
wives,  and  destroyed  the  chapel  in  1895,  but 
where  the  missionaries  are  now  living  in  peace, 
and  at  Kang  Hau,  200  miles  northwest  of  Can- 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    CHINA  119 

ton,  and  just  south  of  Lien  Chow.  In  1896,  the 
first  church  in  the  province  of  Hunan  was  organ- 
ized by  Mr.  Lingle,  from  the  Lien  Chow  station. 

The  Hainan  Mission  also  is  an  outgrowth  of  the 
Canton  work.  Hainan  is  an  island  about  twice 
the  size  of  New  Jersey,  and  about  250  miles 
southeast  of  Hong  Kong.  It  is  the  southernmost 
prefecture  of  the  Empire,  and  the  population  of 
1,500,000  is  made  up  of  the  Loi,  the  original  in- 
habitants whom  some  have  supposed  to  be  related 
to  the  Laos  people,  and  of  Chinese  emigrants 
from  about  Amoy.  The  first  Protestant  work 
was  done  in  1881,  by  a  Dane,  Mr.  C.  C.  Jere- 
miassen,  who  had  been  in  the  Chinese  Customs 
Service,  but  took  up  independent  missionary 
work.  Mr.  Jeremiassen  joined  the  Canton  Mis- 
sion, and  other  missionaries  were  sent  to  reinforce 
him  in  1885,  and  work  is  now  carried  on  at 
Hoihovv,  the  port,  and  Kiung  Chow,  the  capital, 
and  at  Nodoa,  in  the  interior  on  the  border  of  the 
Loi  country. 

The  Central  China  Mission  was  established  in 
1844  when  the  missionaries  came  to  Ningpo  from 
Macao,  and  Dr.  McCartee  opened  a  dispensary 
in  a  large  Taoist  temple.  He  was  soon  joined  by 
Way,  Culbertson,  a  brilliant  graduate  of  West 
Point,  Loomis,  and  Walter  M.  Lowrie.  The 
first  convert  was  baptized  in  1845.  There  was 
heroic  material  in  these  missionaries,  and  the 
others  who  soon  came.  Of  Mr.  Quarterman,  a 
native  of  Georgia,  it  was  said  that  "though 
preyed  upon  for  years  by  disease,  he  could  not  be 
induced  to  leave  his  chosen  field,  even  tempora- 
rily, and  finally  he  was  struck  down  by  smallpox." 
A  great  shadow  fell  upon  the  young  Mission  in 
1847,  when  Mr.  Lowrie,  returning  to  Ningpo 
from  Shanghai,  where  he  had  been  engaged  on 
revising  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament, 


120  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

was  murdered  by  pirates,  who  threw  him  over- 
board and  watched  him  with  long  pikes  to  prevent 
his  clinging  to  the  boat.  As  he  was  carried  to 
the  boat's  side,  he  threw  back  his  Bible  among 
his  Chinese  fellow-passengers.  The  first  native 
ordained  minister  was  Ziu  ying-tong.  He  was 
persecuted  by  his  mother  and  other  relatives,  but 
stood  firm.  He  wished  to  support  himself  in 
business,  and  not  to  "eat  the  foreign  rice,"  but 
when  the  need  of  workers  became  great,  he  gave 
up  his  prejudice  and  became  a  helper.  When  he 
died  in  Ningpo,  in  1895,  beloved  by  all,  his 
heathen  neighbors  said,  "If  such  is  the  Christian 
life  and  death,  so  peaceful,  so  blest  in  family  and 
in  all  things,  so  fearless  of  death,  we  would  like 
to  be  Christians." 

A  strong  church  soon  grew  up  in  Ningpo,  and  in 
the  district  connected  with  the  station  there  are  now 
ten  churches.  There  are  more  than  one  thousand 
communicants.  I  attended  once  a  union  meeting 
in  the  First  Church,  which  was  crowded  with 
Chinese,  as  earnest  and  devout  and  joyous 
Christians  as  could  be  found  anywhere.  It  is  of 
this  church  that  Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin,  for  ten 
years  a  member  of  the  station,  tells  a  story  illus- 
trating the  simple  superstitions  of  the  people. 
"  Early  one  Sunday  morning  a  mob  came 
thundering  at  our  gate,  demanding  admission  to 
the  church.  This  time  they  were  actuated  by 
motives  more  serious  than  curiosity.  A  weeping 
mother  led  the  way ;  and  when  I  inquired  what 
she  wanted,  she  replied  that  her  little  boy  'had 
lost  his  soul  in  the  church  the  day  before,  and 
she  wished  access  to  the  interior  to  look  for  it.' 
The  child,  who  had  been  playing  there,'  had,  on 
going  home,  been  taken  with  a  sudden  fever  (from 
exposure  to  the  sun,  perhaps),  and  was  then 
delirious.  In  delirium  the  rational  soul  is  sup- 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    CHINA  121 

posed  to  be  absent,  and  in  this  case  its  absence 
was  ascribed  to  a  fright  by  looking  up  to  the 
height  of  the  edifice,  or  down  from  some  eleva- 
tion to  which  the  boy  had  climbed.  The  soul, 
according  to  the  poor  woman's  belief,  was  still 
hovering  in  the  hall  like  a  bewildered  bird. 
Entering  the  church  with  a  bundle  of  the  boy's 
garments,  they  prayed  the  animula  vagula  to 
perch  on  the  bundle  and  return  to  its  resting  place. 
This  done,  they  departed,  firmly  persuaded  that 
they  had  captured  the  fugitive  soul."1 

In  1850  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Culbertson  and  the 
Rev.  J.  K.  Wight  and  his  wife  were  transferred 
from  Ningpo  to  occupy  Shanghai.  It  was  nine 
years  before  they  baptized  the  first  convert.  That 
is  not  much  less  than  the  age  of  the  Korea  Mis- 
sion, where  there  are  already  many  thousands  of 
converts.  The  next  station  to  be  occupied  was 
Hangchow,  156  miles  northwest  of  Ningpo,  in 
1859,  by  Dr.  Nevius  and  Mrs.  Nevius,  who  had 
joined  the  Ningpo  station  in  1854.  The  Chinese 
regard  Hangchow  with  unbounded  admiration. 
They  have  a  saying,  "Above  is  heaven,  below 
are  Soochow  and  Hangchow."  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Nevius  were  not  able  to  remain  in  Hangchow. 
The  people  were  disturbed  over  the  Arrow  War, 
and  though  they  had  won  many  friends,  it 
seemed  wise  to  withdraw  temporarily.  In  1865 
the  work  was  resumed  by  the  Rev.  D.  D.  Green. 
Since  then  it  has  not  been  interrupted  save  by 
occasional  disturbances  such  as  the  troubles  of 
1900,  and  the  curious  unrest  of  1876.  The  latter 
year  "was  one  of  great  excitement,  owing  to 
what  was  known  as  the  'Paper  men  craze,'  the 
origin  of  which  was  never  fully  explained. 
Sprites  in  the  form  of  paper  men,  said  to  have 
been  sent  out  by  foreigners,  followed  people  after 

1  A  Cycle  of  Cathay,  p.  66. 


122  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

dark  and  clipped  off  the  ends  of  their  queues,  and 
those  who  lo^t  their  queues  in  this  way  were  sure 
to  die  within  three  months.  The  sprites  also 
entered  peoples'  houses  and  concealed  themselves 
in  the  rafters,  and  when  the  household  was  asleep, 
descended  and  perched  upon  the  breast  of  the  un- 
conscious sleeper  and  gradually  smothered  him  to 
death.  Charms  were  devised  by  the  Taoist 
priests  which,  when  braided  into  the  queue,  were 
considered  a  good  protection  against  the^e  mys- 
terious emissaries.  The  traffic  in  charms  became 
a  very  lucrative  one  to  the  Taoists,  and  some 
suspected  that  the  craze  had  been  started  by  them 
for  this  mercenary  purpose.  Christians  were 
thought  to  be  exempt  from  these  uncanny  as- 
saults, because  they  carried  crosses  about  their 
persons,  or  kept  images  of  the  crucifix  in  their 
houses.  So  the  cross  was  widely  used  by  the 
heathen  as  a  charm.  The  sign  of  the  cross  was 
painted  in  white  on  the  doors  and  on  the  pave- 
ments along  the  streets.  In  some  places  gongs 
were  beaten  all  night  long,  to  keep  the  people  on 
their  guard  and  to  drive  away  the  sprites.  So  in- 
tense was  the  antichristian  feeling  that  in  many 
places  chapels  were  looted  and  native  preachers 
beaten.  Our  chapel  at  Sin-z  was  partially  torn 
down  and  the  furniture  smashed.  On  repre- 
sentation being  made  to  the  local  mandarin,  how- 
ever, the  damage  was  repaired  and  the  chapel  re- 
opened by  a  deputy  from  the  Chehien's  office, 
and  very  satisfactory  proclamations  were  issued  to 
quiet  the  people."  l 

The  Soochow  station  was  established  in  1871, 
by  the  Rev.  George  F.  Fitch  and  Mrs.  Fitch, 
and  Nanking  in  1876  by  Mr.  Whiting  and  Mr. 
Leaman.  The  officials  opposed  at  first  at  Nan- 
king but  the  work  has  won  its  way,  and  five  years 
1  Jubilee  Papers,  Central  China  Mission,  p.  87  f. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    CHINA  123 

ago  the  Prefect,  after  entertaining  the  men  mis- 
sionaries at  dinner,  issued  a  proclamation  in 
which  he  said:  '-Now  having  examined  the 
doctrine  halls  in  every  place  pertaining  to  the 
prefecture,  we  find  that  there  have  been  established 
free  schools  where  the  poor  children  of  China 
may  receive  instruction  ;  hospitals  where  China- 
men may  freely  receive  healing ;  that  the  mis- 
sionaries are  all  really  good  ;  not  only  do  they 
not  take  the  people's  possessions,  but  they  do. not 
seem  to  desire  men's  praise.  Although  China- 
men are  pleased  to  do  good,  there  are  none  who 
equal  the  missionaries."  Mr.  Whiting  was  one 
of  the  missionaries  who  distributed  relief  in  the 
province  of  Shansi  during  the  great  famine  in 
1878.  There  he  fell  a  victim  to  famine  fever, 
and  died  at  Tai-yuen-fu,  the  capital.  The  gov- 
ernor offered  to  send  the  body  to  America,  but  it 
seemed  best  to  bury  him  where  he  died.  At  the 
funeral  twelve  Chinese  carried  the  coffin  to  the 
grave  dug  in  land  purchased  by  the  provincial 
treasury,  and  at  the  close  of  a  short  service  one 
of  the  Chinese  stepped  forward  and  said  to  the 
foreign  missionaries  present,  "  Since  you  have 
shown  your  respect  to  Mr.  Whiting,  who  has  lost 
his  life  in  seeking  our  good,  let  us  also  pay  our 
respect ;  ' '  and  before  he  could  be  stopped  he 
was  down  on  his  knees  before  the  grave. 

Each  of  the  stations  of  the  Central  China  Mis- 
sion uses  a  different  dialect,  and  there  are,  accord- 
ingly, boarding  schools  for  both  boys  and  girls  in 
all  the  stations,  save  Soochow,  where  there  is  no 
girls'  school.  The  only  hospital  is  the  Tooker 
Memorial  Hospital  for  Women,  in  Soochow.  In 
Shanghai  is  the  great  Mission  Press.  The  Hon. 
Walter  Lowrie,  secretary  of  the  Board,  took  a 
profound  interest  in  the  Press,  and  rose  two  hours 
earlier  than  usual  for  some  years  in  order  to  study 


124  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Chinese.  What  he  and  his  son,  the  Rev.  John  C. 
Lovvrie,  D.  D.,  did  for  the  Press  showed  them  to 
be  men  of  far-sighted  judgment,  and  laid  the 
foundations  of  one  of  the  most  useful  enterprises  in 
China.  The  Press  was  set  up  first  in  Macao,  in 
1844,  by  Mr.  Richard  Cole,  sent  out  for  the  pur- 
pose, with  a  young  Chinese  who  had  learned 
printing  in  America.  The  first  work  done  was 
an  edition  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  In 
1845  the  Press  was  removed  to  Ningpo,  and  in 
1860  to  Shanghai.  "  The  use  of  separate  char- 
acters instead  of  cut  blocks  was  begun  in  1856. 
A  Frenchman  had  conceived  the  idea  of  separat- 
ing the  complex  Chinese  characters  into  their  sim- 
ple elements,  so  that  a  few  elemental  types  might 
be  variously  combined  to  form  many  different 
characters.  When  the  sum  of  $15,000  was 
needed  to  secure  the  manufacture  of  matrices  for 
the  type,  King  Louis  Philippe  and  the  British 
Museum  gave  $5,000  each,  and  the  remaining 
$5,000  (later  increased  by  some  additional  ex- 
pense) was  contributed  by  the  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions.  After  this  step  in  advance 
was  taken,  a  type  foundry  and  electrotyping  de- 
partment were  added  to  the  institution."  l  The 
genius  who  most  advanced  the  work  of  print- 
ing in  China  was  William  Gamble,  who  was  sent 
out  to  the  Mission  in  1858  and  remained  until 
1869.  The  Press  now  embraces  printing  offices, 
type  foundry,  electrotyping,  stereotyping  and  book- 
binding, and  will  soon  add  photo-engraving.  It 
has  furnished  fonts  of  type  for  the  missions  in 
Korea,  Peking,  and  Foochow,  and  all  parts  of 
China,  as  well  as  for  the  German  Imperial  Print- 
ing House  in  Berlin.  Bibles,  books  of  general  in- 
formation, Chinese  and  Japanese  dictionaries, 
educational,  medical  and  scientific  books, 
1  Historical  Sketches,  p.  58. 


THE   MISSIONS   IN    CHINA  125 

pamphlets  and  periodicals,  pour  out  from  the  Press 
in  both  Chinese  and  English.  For  the  five  years 
ending  with  the  Jubilee  of  the  Mission  in  1895,  the 
'total  output  was  over  two  hundred  million  pages. 
In  1899  it  was  67,625,660.  The  Reform  Move- 
ment of  1898  was  in  a  true  sense  the  product  of 
the  Press,  which  had  been  filling  China  with 
books  of  light  and  progress.  "  In  1895  a  superb 
copy  of  the  New  Testament  was  printed,  beauti- 
fully bound,  and  inclosed  in  a  silver  casket,  for 
presentation  to  the  Dowager  Empress  on  her 
sixtieth  birthday,  by  the  Christian  women  of 
China.  The  entire  cost  was  $1,200,  and  the 
givers  numbered  nearly  11,000."  l 

The  mission  work  in  China,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Hainan  Mission,  has  been  a  growth  north- 
ward. In  1 86 1  another  forward  step  was  taken, 
and  Mr.  Gayley  and  Mr.  Danforth  and  their 
wives  were  sent  to  occupy  Tungchow,  in  the 
northeast  corner  of  the  province  of  Shantung ; 
and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Nevius  soon  joined  them. 
"  When  the  missionaries  first  arrived  at  Tung- 
chow,  they  were  kindly  received  by  both  officers 
and  people.  During  the  first  year  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel  was  blessed  to  the  conversion  of 
several  persons,  some  of  them  teachers.  No 
sooner  were  they  received  into  the  church  than  a 
great  change  among  the  people  was  manifested. 
They  could  not  understand  why  any  of  the 
Chinese  could  be  induced  to  give  up  their  religion 
and  embrace  Christianity.  The  most  probable 
solution  seemed  to  be  that  the  missionaries  pos- 
sessed the  power  of  witchcraft,  and  used  it  to  gain 
influence  over  men.  Intense  excitement  followed ; 
inflammatory  papers  were  written  and  posted  in 
public  places.  Terror  seemed  to  seize  almost 
every  one.  Many  feared  lest  they  might  fall  under 

1  Historical  Sketches,  p.  59. 


126  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN   MISSIONS 

the  power  of  the  missionary,  and  become  unable 
to  resist  entering  the  Christian  Church.  Reports 
were  circulated  that  a  peculiar  powder  was  put 
into  the  medicine  so  freely  given  by  the  foreigners, 
and  also  put  into  the  tea  given  to  guests  who 
called.  It  was  also  said  that  little  bags  of  pow- 
der were  found  in  wells,  which  caused  all  who 
drank  of  the  water  to  come  under  the  spell.  The 
cleaning  of  wells  was  entered  upon  on  a  large 
scale.  The  men  so  employed  were  said  to  pro- 
duce little  bags  of  powder  which  they  claimed 
were  found  in  the  wells,  and  this  was  urged  as 
proof  postive  against  foreigners.  It  became  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  to  find  anyone  willing  to  listen 
to  the  gospel,  or  even  to  come  near  the  mission- 
aries." 1  Again  in  1870  there  was  a  strange  anti- 
foreign  agitation.  "  The  most  incendiary  placards 
and  books  and  pamphlets  were  in  circulation,  and 
rumors  were  rife  that  foreigners  were  to  be  driven 
from  the  country.  It  is  a  fact,"  adds  Mrs. 
Nevius,  "  that  we  heard  of  the  contemplated 
'  Tientsin  Massacre '  many  days  before  that  hor- 
rible event  took  place."  The  missionaries  with- 
drew for  awhile  from  Tungchow,  but  soon  re- 
turned. 

The  Tungchow  station  has  become  best  known 
through  the  College  which  was  started  in  1866  as 
a  small  school  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Calvin  Mateer. 
No  institution  in  China  can  surpass  it  in  the 
solidity  and  power  of  its  work.  It  has  sent  out 
more  than  one  hundred  graduates  from  its  com- 
plete eight  years'  course,  and  all  were  members  of 
the  Church.  They  have  not  been  educated  for 
clerkships,  where  a  little  English  is  required,  but 
have  been  given  a  thorough  education  in  their 
own  language,  in  Western  science  and  mathemat- 
ics, and  under  the  most  penetrating  Christian  in- 

1  Armstrong,  Shantung,  p.  94  f. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    CHINA  127 

fluence.  Until  Mrs.  Mateer  died,  in  1898,  she 
was  mother  to  the  boys.  On  her  sixtieth  birth- 
day, there  were  presented  to  her  a  red  robe  by 
her  old  boys,  and,  by  the  people  who  had  seen  her 
work,  a  great  blue  tablet,  on  which  was  inscribed 
in  Chinese  characters,  "  The  Venerable  Nourish- 
ing Mother  of  Heroes."  When  the  old  boys  came 
back,  they  would  go  first  to  her  to  talk  of  all  that 
they  had  done;  and  when  at  last  she  laid  her 
frail  body  down,  having  suffered  more  or  less  dur- 
ing all  her  years  in  China,  she  could  think  of  the 
thousands  of  men  and  women  all  over  the  Empire, 
who  had  been  blessed  through  her,  and  the  lives 
in  which  she  had  sunk  her  own.  Scores  of 
Christian  congregations  can  sing  richly,  in  China, 
because  Mrs.  Mateer  and  Mrs.  Nevius  sang  their 
voices  away  in  teaching  the  young  men  to  use 
theirs. 

Dr.  and  Mrs.  McCartee  came  up  from  Ningpo 
to  Chefoo  in  1862,  and  in  1864  Dr.  Corbett  be- 
gan his  great  work.  It  was  not  until  1877  that 
Dr.  Nevius  removed  to  Chefoo,  and  thenceforth 
made  that  his  station.  Thousands  have  been 
added  to  the  churches  in  the  Chefoo  field,  and 
the  schools  have  helped  to  secure  the  results  of 
which  Dr.  Corbett  speaks  :  "  The  happy  Chris- 
tian homes  which  have  sprung  up  in  many  cen- 
ters ;  the  strict  observance  of  the  Sabbath  ;  the 
self-denying  efforts  of  the  Christians  to  erect 
churches  and  school  buildings,  and  secure  a  Chris- 
tian education  for  their  children  ;  the  patience  in 
times  of  trial  and  persecution,  and  not  a  few  tri- 
umphant and  peaceful  deaths,  all  show  the  gospel 
to  be  '  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every 
one  that  believeth.'  "  l  The  notable  thing  about 
the  Chefoo  work  is  its  extent  and  the  unresting 
itinerating  of  Dr.  Nevius  and  Dr.  Corbett.  The 
1  Armstrong,  Shantung,  p.  100. 


128  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

former  had  a  unique  mode  of  conveyance.  "  I 
am  in  the  country  so  much,  and  traveling  with  a 
mule  litter  is  so  expensive,"  he  wrote,  "that  I 
have  taken  a  wheelbarrow  to  carry  my  baggage, 
and  a  horse  to  ride.  I  have  engaged  two  steady 
wheelbarrow  men  by  the  month,  and,  if  they  suit 
me,  shall  probably  keep  them  the  year  round. 
My  barrow  is  a  platform  about  six  feet  long  and 
four  wide,  with  a  wheel  in  the  middle  and  handles 
at  both  ends.  I  have  in  it  now  four  large  bundles 
of  books  for  distribution,  a  few  foreign  stores,  and 
my  little  portable  kitchen,  which  weighs,  with  its 
kettles,  dishes,  etc.,  about  fifty-five  pounds.  Alto- 
gether, myself,  my  clothes  and  bedding,  etc.,  weigh 
about  five  hundred  pounds."  ' 

The  great  famine  which  smote  Shantung  in  1 876- 
1877,  left  desolation  behind  it;  but  also  it  was  a 
great  blessing.  As  Dr.  Corbett  said  in  an  address 
at  home  some  years  ago:  "  During  this  dreadful 
visitation  many  died  of  starvation.  Not  a  few 
fled  to  other  parts  of  the  Empire ;  but  a  still  greater 
number,  in  order  to  save  life,  were  compelled  to 
part  with  their  land  and  other  property  at  a  great 
sacrifice.  Since  then,  many  who  survived  the 
famine  have  had  to  struggle  with  a  poverty  un- 
known in  Christian  lands.  The  foreign  residents 
in  China  nobly  contributed  large  sums  of  money 
for  the  perishing.  Much  was  also  sent  from  Eng- 
land and  other  Western  lands.  This  money  was 
largely  intrusted  to  the  missionaries  for  distribu- 
tion, and  was  the  means  of  saving  many  lives  and 
alleviating  vast  suffering.  Many  children  left  to 
die  were  rescued  and  subsequently  returned  to 
their  surviving  kindred.  This  presented  the  for- 
eigners in  a  new  light  to  the  Chinese.  Many  who 
had  formerly  kept  aloof  and  could  only  speak  evil 
of  us,  now  began  to  change  their  views  and  think 
1  Life  of  jfo/itt  Livingstone  Nevius,  p.  335. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN   CHINA  129 

of  us  as  true  men.  The  risking  of  life  to  save  life, 
and  the  death  of  a  number  of  the  missionaries 
from  over-exertion  and  famine  fever,  spoke  with 
an  irresistible  power  to  many  hearts.  They  be- 
came friendly,  and  little  by  little  consented  to 
listen  to  the  gospel.  Christian  books  were  studied, 
and  soon  numbers  were  enrolled  as  desirous  of 
uniting  with  the  Christian  Church.  Frequently 
entire  families  accepted  the  truth.  In  many  in- 
stances both  men  and  women  visited  their  kindred 
and  friends  to  tell  them  of  the  Saviour,  and  thus 
the  truth  spread  from  village  to  village.  After 
this,  when  the  missionary  or  native  preacher  vis- 
ited a  new  district,  frequently  groups  of  inquirers 
or  people  anxious  to  hear  the  gospel  gave  a  hearty 
welcome." 

From  these  two  stations,  Tungchow  and  Chefoo, 
the  work  spread  into  the  interior.  Chinanfu,  the 
capital,  was  first  visited  in  1871  by  Mr.  Mcllvaine, 
who  lived  alone  in  a  small  Chinese  house  for  eight 
months,  and  then  returned  in  1873,  and  worked 
on  until  joined  in  1875  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Crosette. 
Mr.  Mcllvaine  died  of  pneumonia  in  1881,  and 
was  buried  near  the  city.  "He  was  a  devoted 
missionary,  of  scholarly  tastes,  and  refined  dispo- 
sition, yet  shrinking  from  nothing."  The  station 
of  Ichowfu  was  opened  in  1890,  and  the  station  of 
Chining  Chow  in  1890.  In  each  of  these  stations 
great  opposition  has  been  encountered  and  lived 
down.  Mobs  have  attacked  the  mission  premises, 
and  natives  having  dealings  with  the  missionaries 
"have  been  cruelly  treated  in  the  yamen  and  by 
the  mob,  one  man,  who  was  guilty  of  nothing  but 
selling  a  piece  of  his  land,  having  died  in  the 
yamen  from  exhaustion  caused  by  starvation  and 
beating."  The  Shantung  Missions  have  passed 
safely  through  all  these  trials,  however,  and  also 
through  the  unrest  caused  by  the  Taiping  Re- 


130  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

bellion  and  the  Japanese  War  and  the  anti-foreign 
uprising  of  1900. 

In  the  Boxer  uprising,  however,  the  station  of 
Wei  Hien,  established  in  1883  by  the  Rev.  R.  M. 
Mateer  and  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Laughlin  and  their 
wives,  and  Dr.  H.  R.  Smith,  was  destroyed. 
Schools,  residences  and  hospital  were  burned,  na- 
tive Christians  persecuted,  and  the  work  of 
the  great  field,  with  one  hundred  and  twenty 
four  out-stations  and  three  thousand  Chris- 
tians, was  paralyzed.  Fortunately,  all  the  mis- 
sionaries escaped.  The  Rev.  F.  H.  Chalfant, 
Miss  Hawes,  and  Miss  Boughton,  were  the  only 
ones  left  at  the  station  at  the  time,  and  fled  under 
the  shelter  of  the  night,  only  a  few  rioters  seeing 
them,  and  shouting  after  them,  "  The  devils  are 
escaping.  Kill ;  "  while  the  blaze  of  the  burning 
buildings  lighted  the  sky. 

The  last  of  the  China  Missions  to  be  described 
comprises  the  stations  at  Peking  and  Paotingfu, 
the  former  occupied  in  1863,  and  the  latter  in 
1893.  At  the  close  of  the  Arrow  War  Peking 
was  opened  to  foreigners,  and  Dr.  Martin  was 
transferred  from  Ningpo  to  open  a  mission  there. 
"  In  the  autumn,"  says  Dr.  Martin,"  I  succeeded 
in  securing  eligible  premises,  with  space  for  school 
and  chapel,  near  the  Tsungli  Yamen,  in  the 
southeastern  angle  of  the  Tartar  city.  The  pre- 
vious occupant  was  a  mandarin  with  four  wives. 
We  got  the  place  cheap  because  one  of  them  had 
hanged  herself  there.  A  mandarin  of  my  ac- 
quaintance had  six  wives  ;  I  never  heard  that  any 
of  them  committed  suicide,  but  they  did  tear  each 
other's  hair.  In  such  cases,  he  said,  he  always 
turned  on  them  the  hose  of  a  force  pump.  The 
floors  of  our  house  were  paved  with  tiles,  wooden 
floors  being  a  luxury  unknown  to  northern  Chi- 
nese who,  sensibly  enough,  carry  a  small  floor 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    CHINA  13! 

attached  to  their  feet  in  the  shape  of  thick  soles 
of  compressed  cloth."1  In  1869  Dr.  Martin  re- 
signed in  order  to  accept  the  presidency  of  the 
Tungwen  College,  an  institution  under  the  Chi- 
nese Government,  designed  to  train  young  Chinese 
for  diplomatic  service. 

In  the  thirty  years  since  the  Peking  Mission  was 
established,  it  has  grown  into  a  great  plant  — 
girls'  and  boys'  schools,  hospitals,  dispensaries, 
churches,  and  residences.  But  the  last  great  anti- 
foreign  uprising  in  1900  swept  the  mission  almost 
out  of  existence.  All  the  buildings  in  Peking 
were  razed  to  the  ground,  and  the  very  founda- 
tion stones  were  torn  up.  All  but  ten  of  the  girls 
in  Miss  Newton's  school  were  slain,  and  Mrs. 
Teng,  the  Chinese  matron,  a  noble  woman,  with 
her  husband,  the  pastor  of  the  church,  and  her 
children,  one  of  whom,  a  finely  educated  young 
man,  was  a  teacher  in  the  Peking  University, 
were  murdered,  with  a  majority  of  the  members  of 
our  churches  in  Peking.  The  missionaries  shared 
the  horrors  of  the  long  siege  with  the  other  for- 
eigners, and  were  rescued  with  a  few  of  the  Chris- 
tians, on  August  1 7th,  by  the  Allied  Armies. 

On  the  following  day  the  United  States  Minis- 
ter sent  them  the  following  letter  : — 

Legation  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Peking,  China,  Aug.  i8th,  1900. 
To  the  Besieged  American  Missionaries  : — 

To  one  and  all  of  you,  so  providentially  saved 
from  threatened  massacre,  I  beg  in  this  hour  of 
our  deliverance,  to  express  what  I  know  to  be  the 
universal  sentiments  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps,  the 
sincere  appreciation  of,  and  professed  profound 
gratitude  for,  the  inestimable  help  which  you  and 

1  A  Cycle  of  Cathay,  p.  230  f. 


132  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

the  native  Christians   under   your   charge    have 
rendered  toward  our  preservation. 

Without  your  intelligent  and  successful  plan- 
ning and  the  uncomplaining  execution  of  the 
Chinese,  I  believe  our  salvation  would  have  been 
impossible. 

By  your  courteous  consideration  of  me  and 
your  continued  patience  under  most  trying  occa- 
sions I  have  been  deeply  touched,  and  for  it  all  I 
thank  you  most  heartily. 

I  hope  and  believe  somehow,  in  God's  unerring 
plan,  your  sacrifices  and  dangers  will  bear  rich 
fruit  in  the  material  and  spiritual  welfare  of  the 
people  to  whom  you  have  so  nobly  devoted  your 
lives  and  work. 

Assuring  you  of  my  personal  respect  and  grati- 
tude, believe  me, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

E.  H.  CONGER. 

At  Paotingfu  the  buildings  were  totally  de- 
stroyed, and  Dr.  George  Yardley  Taylor,  the 
Rev.  F.  E.  Simcox  and  Mrs.  Simcox  and  their 
three  little  children,  and  Dr.  Cortlandt  Van 
Rensselaer  Hodge  and  Mrs.  Hodge,  met  a  mar- 
tyr's death  in  the  flames  of  their  burning  dwellings 
outside  the  north  gate  of  the  city.  Dr.  Taylor 
and  Dr.  Hodge  had  grown  up  in  the  same  church 
at  Burlington,  New  Jersey,  and  were  both  grad- 
uates of  Princeton.  When  the  house  was  burn- 
ing little  Paul  and  Francis  Simcox  ran  out 
of  it  nearly  suffocated  with  smoke  and  were 
killed  by  the  sword  and  thrown  into  the  well. 
Dr.  Taylor,  holding  a  rifle  in  his  hand,  told  the 
assailants  what  havoc  it  would  do  among  them, 
but  refusing  to  use  it  he  threw  it  into  the  flames 
and  beating  his  breast  perished.  His  Quaker 
ancestry  had  made  him  faithful  in  life  and  held 


THE   MISSIONS    IN   CHINA  133 

him  true  to  its  instincts  in  death.  Nowhere  in 
our  missions  was  there  a  finer  company  of  young 
missionaries,  and  it  is  only  possible  to  explain 
their  martyrdom,  as  Jesus  explained  his,  when  he 
prayed,  "Father,  forgive  them;  for  they  know 
not  what  they  do." 

But  the  bitter  experiences  of  the  great  crisis 
have  taught  two  good  lessons :  one,  the  impossi- 
bility of  the  world's  continued  endurance  of  the 
reactionary,  exclusive  spirit  of  the  Chinese  Gov- 
ernment ;  and  the  other,  the  .power  of  the  mission 
movement  in  raising  up  true  Christians.  Thus 
Dr.  Corbett  wrote  of  the  hardships  of  the  native 
Christians,  who  were  driven  from  their  homes  by 
the  persecutions  which  fell  upon  them  : — 

"  I  found  suffering  every  place — many  trying 
to  live  on  corncobs,  the  dried  vine  of  the  sweet 
potato,  bark  and  leaves  of  trees,  roots,  etc.  .  .  . 
I  found  the  Christians  hopeful.  They  feel  that 
God  has  not  forsaken  them,  but  has  heard  and 
answered  prayer.  .  .  .  Wonderful  grace  has 
been  given  to  our  persecuted  people.  They  have 
stood  firm  and  are  not  giving  up  the  Christian 
life." 

And  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Garritt,  wrote  from  Shang- 
hai :  — 

"  How  sad  all  this  is  !  yet  its  bright  side  is  the 
firmness  of  the  Christians,  and  their  joy  (some  of 
them  in  being  counted  worthy  to  suffer  for  the 
name  of  Christ).  The  secular  dailies  here  have 
printed  one  or  two  statements  of  the  firmness  of 
converts  even  to  death  that  sounds  the  knell  of 
all  talk  of  rice-Christians." 

And  Miss  Lattimore  wrote  from  Soochow  : — 

"There  is  much  fear  among  the  Christians 
generally,  but  so  far  the  little  flock  here  have 
shown  a  faith  in  God  that  makes  me  realize  once 
more  the  power  of  the  religion  of  Christ  over  the 


134  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

minds  of  men.  When  an  old  woman,  but  a  little 
over  a  year  ago  a  heathen,  tells  me  that  it  is  not 
needful  to  fear  but  only  to  believe  in  the  Father 
in  heaven,  and  then  goes  on  with  her  everyday 
life,  although  bad  men  have  stood  in  her  door- 
way and  threatened  to  burn  and  kill,  I  know  she 
has  something  in  her  heart  which  keeps  her  quiet 
and  at  peace." 

And  even  in  the  very  pains  of  suffering  and 
death,  thousands  of  native  Christians,  Protestant 
and  Roman  Catholic,  were  true.  Ting  Li  Mai,  pas- 
tor of  the  Presbyterian  churches  near  Laichowfu 
in  Shantung,  and  Dr.  Lio,  a  Christian  physician 
in  the  same  city,  both  noble  young  men  and 
graduates  of  the  Tungchow  College,  were  ar- 
rested, and  in  open  court  asked  by  the  magis- 
trate, "Are  you  -  Christians?"  "Yes,"  they 
replied ;  "  we  are."  The  magistrate  then  ordered 
them  beaten,  and  again  demanded,  "Are  you 
Christians?"  "Yes,"  they  replied  ;  "we  are." 
Again  they  were  beaten,  struck  with  over  two 
hundred  blows  with  bamboo  rods  on  the  naked 
thigh  until  the  flesh  was  pounded  to  a  jelly. 
Then  still  faithful,  they  were  flung  into  a  filthy 
jail. 

Many  have  faced  a  quick  death  as  reso- 
lutely as  these  men  endured  lingering  suffering. 
The  simple,  uneducated  cook  of  Dr.  Lewis,  at 
Chinanfu,  was  seized  and  asked  to  recant.  On 
his  refusal  his  ears  were  cut  off.  Still  he  refused, 
and  his  hands  were  struck  off.  Still  proclaiming 
that  he  was  a  Christian,  he  was  beheaded,  mourn- 
ing only  for  his  wife  and  three  little  children  left 
helpless ;  and  his  head  was  suspended  from  a  tree 
and  his  body  thrown  without  the  wall.  In  one 
Roman  Catholic  village,  two  little  children  were 
summoned  before  the  Boxers,  and  asked  whether 
they  believed  in  God.  They  replied  that  they 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    CHINA  1 35 

did.  On  being  threatened  they  still  declared 
that  they  believed,  and  were  cut  down.  Between 
one  and  two  hundred  missionaries  and  thousands 
of  native  Christians  joyfully  met  scourging,  burn- 
ing, anguish,  and  death,  for  the  love  and  faithful- 
ness of  Jesus. 

The  great  Empire  has  passed  through  many 
convulsions.  Let  us  pray  that  this  may  be  the 
last  one  of  violence,  and  that  henceforth  the 
gospel  may  have  opportunity  to  do  quietly  in  the 
hearts  and  homes  of  this  mighty  people,  the  work 
of  regeneration  which  is  necessary  to  make  it 
truly  great,  and  to  fit  it  for  its  mission  in  the 
world. 

In  an  article  in  the  Fortnightly  Review  for 
November,  1900,  Sir  Robert  Hart,  who  has  been 
for  a  generation  more  intimately  connected  than 
any  other  foreigner  with  the  Chinese  Government, 
after  darkly  picturing  the  future  declares :  "  Noth- 
ing but  partition — a  difficult  and  unlikely  inter- 
national settlement — or  a  miraculous  spread  of 
Christianity  in  its  best  form,  will  defer,  will 
avert,  this  result."  But  why  is  such  a  triumph  of 
Christianity  so  unlikely  ?  Is  "God  reluctant  to 
grant  his  blessing  ?  Are  the  difficulties  too  great 
for  his  power?  Or,  are  our  hearts  too  cold,  is  our 
faith  too  weak,  are  our  wills  too  slow  ?  It  is  possible 
if  we  will,  to  make  even  the  unlikely  actual.  Each 
Christian  must  bear  his  share  of  this  great  respon- 
sibility. Each  Christian  may  have  his  share  of 
this  glorious  triumph. 


THE  MISSIONS  IN  JAPAN 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    MISSIONS    IN    JAPAN 

THE  first  missionaries  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  to  Japan  are  still  living,  beloved  by  all 
who  know  them  in  America,  where  their  present 
home  is,  and  in  Japan,  where  their  memory  is 
sweet  among  foreigners  and  Japanese  alike.  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Hepburn  are  the  sole  survivors  of  the 
earliest  company  of  our  missionaries  to  China, 
where  they  worked  at  Amoy  from  1841  to  1846, 
and  they  have  seen  the  whole  development  of 
mission  work  in  Japan,  Dr.  Hepburn  having  ar- 
rived in  Japan  in  1859,  only  a  few  months  after 
the  coming  of  the  first  Protestant  missionaries, 
the  Rev.  J.  Liggins  and  the  Rev.  C.  M.  Williams 
of  the  American  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

The  missionaries  who  sought  to  lay  the  founda- 
tion in  Japan  in  these  early  years  found  a  hard 
task  before  them.  At  the  street  corners,  in  the 
cities,  on  country  roads,  and  in  mountain  passes, 
were  large  bulletin  boards  proclaiming  belief  in 
Christ  a  crime  punishable  by  death.  Even  in 

68  an  edict  appeared,  declaring:  "The  wicked 
sect  called  Christian  is  strictly  prohibited.  Sus- 
pected persons  are  to  be  reported  to  the  respective 
officials  and  rewards  will  be  given."  Dr.  Ver- 
beck,  a  remarkable  man,  who  had  left  Holland 
when  a  boy,  lived  for  a  while  in  America,  and 
then  came  to  Japan  in  1859  to  make  Japan  his 
country,  wrote  of  these  earliest  years  :  "  We  found 
the  natives  not  at  all  accessible  touching  religious 

139 


140  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

matters.     When  such  a  subject  was  mooted  in 
the  presence  of  a  Japanese,  his  hand  would,  al- 

Amost  involuntarily,  be  applied  to  his  throat,  to 
indicate  the  extreme  perilousness  of  such  a  topic. 
If  on  such  an  occasion  more  than  one  happened 
to  be  present,  the  natural  shyness  of  these  people 
became,  if  possible,  more  apparent ;  for  you  will 
remember  that  there  was  then  little  confidence 
between  man  and  man,  chiefly  owing  to  the 
abominable  system  of  secret  espionage,  which  we 
found  in  full  swing  when  we  first  arrived,  and, 
indeed,  for  several  years  after.  It  was  evident 
that  before  we  could  hope  to  do  anything  in  our 
appropriate  work,  two  things  had  to  be  accom- 
plished :  we  had  to  gain  the  general  confidence 
of  the  people,  and  we  had  to  master  the  native 
tongue.  As  to  the  first,  by  the  most  knowing 
and  suspicious  we  were  regarded  as  persons  who 
had  come  to  seduce  the  masses  of  the  people  from 
their  loyalty  to  the  '  God-country  '  and  corrupt 
their  morals  generally.  These  gross  misconcep- 
tions it  was  our  duty  to  endeavor  to  dispel  from 
their  minds  by  invariable  kindness  and  generos- 
ity, by  showing  them  that  we  had  come  to  do 
them  good  only  and  on  all  ^occasions  of  our  inter- 
course with  them,  whether  we  met  in  friendship, 
on  business,  on  duty,  or  otherwise.  A  very  simple 
Christian  duty  indeed  !  As  to  the  other  essential 
prerequisite  to  a  successful  work,  the  acquisition 
of  the  language,  we  were  in  many  respects  not  fa- 
vorably situated  and  our  progress  was  correspond- 
ingly slow."1  No  language  teacher  could  be 
,  obtained  until  March,  1860,  and  then  only  a  spy 
A  engaged  by  the  government  who  withdrew  when 
it  was  proposed  to  translate  the  Scriptures. 

What  had  created  this  fear  and  hatred  of  Chris- 
tianity ?     It  is  to  be  traced  back  to  the  misfor- 
1  Osaka  Conference  Report,  p.  31. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    JAPAN  141 

tunes  of  the  Jesuit  missions  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. In  1549  Francis  Xavier  came  to  Kago- 
shima  in  the  southern  island  of  Kiushiu,  from  Goa 
in  India,  where  he  had  become  interested  in  the 
Japanese  through  a  young  man  named  Anjiro, 
who  had  come  there  on  a  Portuguese  vessel. 
Xavier  remained  only  two  years,  but  his  enthusi- 
astic letters  to  Europe  brought  other  missionaries, 
and  at  the  end  of  thirty  years,  their  converts 
were  said  to  number  150,000.  The  new  religion 
was  much  like  Japanese  Buddhism,  with  some 
differences  distinctly  superior,  and  the  people  had 
little  difficulty  in  changing  from  the  old  sect  to 
the  new.  Political  considerations  also  aided  the 
Church  at  first,  but  ultimately  proved  its  ruin. 
Some  jealousies  among  the  various  orders  of 
priests  arose,  and  a  Portuguese  sea  captain  either 
boastfully  or  maliciously  remarked,  "The  King, 
my  Master,  begins  by  sending  priests  who  win 
over  the  people ;  and  when  this  is  done,  he  dis- 
patches his  troops  to  join  the  native  Christians, 
and  the  conquest  is  easy  and  complete."  Distrust 
fostered  hostility.  In  consequence,  a  decree  of 
expulsion  was  issued  in  1589.  It  was  not  success- 
fully carried  out,  however,  until  1614,  when  ter- 
rible  persecutions  fell  on  the  Church.  Victims 
were  tortured,  burned  alive,  torn  limb  from  limb, 
burned  to  death,  crucified,  yet  multitudes  stood 
faithful  and  firm.  Thousands  of  priests  and  con- 
verts were  destroyed,  and  when  the  survivors  for- 
tified an  old  castle  in  Shimabara  and  decided  to 
fight  for  their  lives,  and  lost,  the  government  vic- 
tory was  celebrated  in  the  massacre  of  37,000, 
and  over  the  ruins  of  the  castle  an  inscribed  stone 
was  placed,  so  it  is  said,  declaring,  "  So  long  as 
the  sun  shall  warm  the  earth  let  no  Christian  be 
so  bold  as  to  come  to  Japan ;  and  let  us  know 
that  the  King  of  Spain  himself,  or  the  Christians' 


142  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

God,  or  the  great  God  of  all,  if  he  violate  this 
command,  shall  pay  for  it  with  his  head."  * 

When  Protestant  missionaries  came  they  felt 
the  influence  of  this  deep  dislike  of  Christianity 
as  it  was  understood  by  the  people,  who  remem- 
bered only  the  traditions  and  had  been  trained  to 
abhor  or  fear  the  foreign  faith.  Later,  the  Japa- 
nese perceived  the  difference  between  Protestant- 
ism and  Romanism,  but  not  at  first,  and  a  Bud- 
dhist pamphlet  published  in  1868,  declared  : 
"Compared  with  the  Roman  Catholic  religion, 
this  (Protestantism)  is  a  very  cunning  doctrine 
indeed  ;  although  they  try  to  make  out  that  there 
is  nothing  abominable  in  it,  they  are  really  foxes 
of  the  same  hole,  and  it  is  really  more  injurious 
than  the  Roman  Catholic  Doctrine.  .  .  .  The 
Jesus  Doctrine  and  the  Doctrine  of  the  Lord  of 
Heaven  (Protestantism  and  Catholicism)  are  the 
same  in  origin  and  merely  branches  of  one  tree. 
.  .  .  The  Roman  Catholic  religion  proselytizes 
from  the  middle  down  to  the  lowest  classes  of  the 
inhabitants.  The  Protestant  religion  chiefly  pros- 
elytizes those  of  higher  position  rather  than  those 
of  the  middle  class."  2  Now  and  then  there  were 
assaults  on  foreigners,  missionaries  and  others. 
Mrs.  Hepburn  was  once  struck  a  severe  blow  on 
the  shoulder,  aimed  at  her  head,  by  a  ruffian  with 
a  club,  who  came  behind  her  in  the  dark. 

How  then  was  it  possible  for  the  missionaries 
to  reside  and  work  in  Japan  ?  The  answer  to 
that  question  unfolds  another  of  the  wonderful 
stories  of  romance  in  missions.  After  the  mas- 
sacre of  Shimabara,  the  doors  of  Japan  were 
K  closed  to  all  foreigners  except  Dutch  traders,  who 
were  tolerated  on  humiliating  conditions.  They 
were  confined  to  a  small  island  in  Nagasaki  har- 

1  Gary,  Japan  and  Its  Regeneration,  p.  56. 
*  Osaka  Conference  Report,  p.  34  f. 


x 


THE   MISSIONS    IN   JAPAN  143 

bor,  one  ship  each  six  months  was  allowed  to 
come,  and  the  traders  are  said  even  to  have 
abjured  their  religion,  trampling  on  the  cross, 
and  one  of  them  declaring,  "No,  I  am  not  a 
Christian  ;  I  am  a  Dutchman."  For  more  than 
two  centuries  the  country  remained  a  hermit  land. 
In  1854,  Commodore  Perry  opened  its  gates  to 
the  world.  In  July,  1853,  he  appeared  with  four 
American  men-of-war  in  the  bay  of  Yeddo, 
to  present  a  letter  from  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  the  Mikado.  He  declined  to 
go  to  Nagasaki  to  be  subjected  to  the  humiliations 
accepted  by  the  Dutch,  and  he  refused  to  deliver 
his  letter  to  any  but  a  noble  of  proper  rank. 
Then  he  sailed  away,  saying  he  would  return  the 
next  year  for  his  answer.  In  February,  1854,  he 
came  back  with  a  double  number  of  ships,  and 
on  March  3ist,  he  negotiated  a  treaty,  opening 
two  ports  to  American  trade.  "  Perry  owed  his 
bloodless  victory,  not  only  to  the  display  of  ex- 
ternal force,  but  also  to  the  deep,  moral  impres- 
sion made  by  his  whole  conduct.  Katsu  Awa, 
afterwards  Minister  of  the  Japanese  Navy,  who 
witnessed  the  negotiations,  most  appropriately  de- 
scribed this  impression  by  saying  that  a  man, 
who,  though  supported  by  ships  and  cannon, 
acted  with  such  gentleness,  kindness,  patience, 
and  yet  firmness,  having  force,  yet  not  using  it, 
could  not  be  a  barbarian,  or  if  he  were,  it  were 
better  for  the  Japanese  to  become  barbarians 
themselves."  1  The  work  which  Perry  began  was 
carried  forward  by  Townsend  Harris,  who  had 
been  instructed  by  the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr. 
Marcy,  "  to  do  his  best  by  all  judicious  measures 
and  kind  influence  to  obtain  full  toleration  of  the 
Christian  religion  and  protection  of  all  mission- 

1  Ritter,  A   History  of  Protestant  Missions  in  Japan, 
p.  6f. 


144  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

aries  who  should  go  there  to  propagate  it."  No 
formal  action  by  the  Japanese  Government  to  this 
effect  could  be  obtained,  but  the  presence  of  the 
missionaries  was  tolerated  in  the  open  ports. 

The  great  change  which  made  way  for  Chris- 
tianity came  in  an  overturning  of  the  whole  course 
of  the  Japanese  Government  and  history.  The 
old  feudal  system  was  overthrown,  the  Mikado 
resumed  the  power  which  had  been  exercised  by 
the  Shoganate,  and  the  government  proceeded  to 
remodel  itself  on  the  pattern  of  European  states. 
All  this  came  about  through  the  revolution  of 
1868,  by  which  Japan  turned  her  face  on  the 
past,  on  the  supremacy  of  Chinese  methods  and 
influence,  and  decided  to  embrace  the  ways  of 
the  West,  which  had  been  so  nobly  and  im- 
pressively commended  by  Commodore  Perry. 
Foreigners  were  invited  to  Japan  to  aid  in  the  re- 
organization of  the  government,  and  the  intro- 
duction of  Western  ideas.  One  of  the  first  of 
these  was  Dr.  D.  B.  McCartee,  of  the  Mission  in 
China,  who  for  five  years  was  professor  of  law 
and  natural  science  in  what  became  afterwards 
the  Imperial  University  at  Tokyo.  Of  the  spirit 
of  the  students  in  those  days,  Dr.  McCartee 
wrote  in  his  reminiscences  :  "I  was  usually  so 
fortunate  as  to  get  on  well  with  the  students, 
some  of  whom,  owing  to  the  sneers  of  other  for- 
eigners, were  at  first  disposed  to  speak  disparag- 
ingly of  Christianity,  and  especially  of  the 
doctrine  of  a  personal  God  ;  but  the  evidence  of 
design,  as  shown  in  my  lectures  on  biology,  etc., 
was  so  convincing  to  them  all,  that  finally  a  stu- 
dent of  one  of  the  higher  classes  told  me  that  all 
of  his  class  believed  in  a  personal  God."  In  ad- 
dition to  inviting  foreigners  to  Japan,  an  embassy 
was  sent  to  the  West,  the  old  Japanese  law  pro- 
hibiting Japanese  from  leaving  their  country 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    JAPAN  145 

having  gone  the  way  of  the  other  restrictions  of 
the  past.  The  return  of  this  embassy  in  1873, 
having  considered  while  abroad,  among  other 
questions,  the  expediency  of  making  Christianity 
the  state  religion,  was  accompanied  by  two  other 
changes  which  mark  the  close  of  this  period, 
1859-1873,  and  the  opening  of  a  new  era  for 
missions.  On  January  i,  1873,  the  Gregorian 
calendar  was  adopted,  and  the  Japanese  began  to 
date  all  things  Anno  Domini,  and  on  February 
24,  1873,  the  edicts  against  Christianity  were  re- 
moved from  the  public  notice  boards  throughout 
the  Empire. 

During  the  fourteen  long  years  which  preceded 
these  happy  changes,  the  missionaries  had  been 
quietly  and  faithfully  carrying  on  their  work.  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Hepburn  had  been  winning  the  hearts 
of  all.  Mrs.  Hepburn  was  called  jocularly  by 
several  officers,  "  The  mother  of  the  United  States  \, 
Navy."  Dr.  Hepburn  was  carrying  on  his  med-  ^ 
ical  work,  preparing  his  great  dictionary, — the  first 
Japanese  and  English  dictionary,  which  was 
printed  at  the  Mission  Press  in  Shanghai,  and 
issued  in  1867, — and  translating  the  Bible.  When 
they  first  settled  at  Kanagawa,  a  few  miles  from 
Tokyo,  called  Yeddo  then,  they  resided  in  a  Bud- 
dhist temple  from  which  the  idols  were  removed, 
and  where  all  were  welcomed  to  talk  with  the 
missionaries.  Mr.  William  Rankin,  for  many 
years  treasurer  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions, 
recalls  the  circumstances  of  the  first  preaching. 
"On  one  occasion  after  his  rented  temple  had 
been  cleansed  of  its  idols  and  rooms  fitted  for 
occupancy,  while  unpacking  and  arranging  his 
goods,  he  received  a  visit  from  the  officials,  who 
made  a  demand  for  his  Chinese  books,  which  he 
refused  to  deliver  up,  and  would  have  appealed  to 
the  United  States  Consul,  but  the  demand  was 


146  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

not  pressed.  While  making  their  inspection,  a 
picture  of  the  crucifixion  was  found,  which  some 
friend  in  New  York  had  sent  Mrs.  Hepburn. 
This  discovery  was  thought  at  first  a  mishap,  but 
instead  of  confiscating  the  contraband  picture, 
to  the  surprise  of  its  owners  the  men  were  curi- 
ous to  know  the  significance  of  the  two  thieves, 
who  they  were,  etc.,  which  led  to  an  explanation 
of  the  whole  transaction — why  Jesus  was  cru- 
cified, what  brought  him  into  the  world,  and 
why  Christians  worshiped  him.  This  was  the 
first  Christian  sermon  ever  preached  by  an 
American  missionary  to  a  Japanese  audience. ' ' : 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Nevius  of  China  were  at  first 
associated  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hepburn,  in  open- 
ing the  work  in  Japan,  but  after  nine  months 
they  returned  to  China,  the  treaties  which  closed 
the  Arrow  War  having  opened  North  China,  and 
the  prospect  of  any  speedy  improvement  of  the 
conditions  in  Japan  being  unfavorable.  In  1862, 
Dr.  Hepburn  removed  to  Yokohama,  and  the 
following  year  was  joined  by  the  Rev.  David 
Thompson,  still  working  in  the  Mission  at  Tokyo. 
In  1868,  the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Edward  Comes  were 
added  to  the  Mission,  but  both  were  instanta- 
neously killed  by  the  explosion  of  a  steamer  in 
the  Bay  of  Yeddo.  Six  other  missionaries  joined 
the  Mission  before  the  end  of  1873,  and  the  work 
was  expanded  by  the  occupation  of  Tokyo  as  a 
station,  in  1869,  by  Dr.  Thompson. 

The  first  fruit  of  the  work  of  the  Protestant 
missionaries  in  Japan  was  the  baptism  of  Yano 
Riu,  the  teacher  of  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Ballagh  of  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Mission,  in  October,  1864. 
The  next  baptisms  were  of  three  men,  the  leading 
one  an  official  of  high  rank  named  Wakasa 

1  Rankin,  Hand  Hook  and  Incidents  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, p.  71. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    JAPAN  147 

Murata,  who  was  the  Commander  of  the  Japa- 
nese troops  patroling  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki  in 
1854,  keeping  watch  over  some  English  and 
French  men-of-war  there.  One  day  he  found  a 
.  small  book  floating  on  the  water,  which  proved 
to  be  a  Dutch  Testament.  His  curiosity  was  so 
aroused  when  he  learned  what  it  was,  that  he  sent 
a  man  to  Shanghai  for  a  Chinese  version  which 
he  learned  was  printed  there.  He  and  his 
brother  and  some  friends  at  once  began  to  study 
this,  became  acquainted  soon  with  Dr.  Verbeck, 
to  whom  they  applied  for  instruction,  and  in  1866 
for  baptism,  Mr.  VVakasa  saying  to  Dr.  Verbeck : 
"  Sir,  I  cannot  tell  you  my  feelings  when  for  the 
first  time  I  read  the  account  of  the  character  and 
work  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  had  never  seen,  heard 
of,  or  imagined,  such  a  person.  I  was  filled  with 
admiration,  overwhelmed  with  emotion,  and  taken 
captive  by  the  record  of  his  nature  and  life." 
The  first  converts  of  the  Presbyterian  missionaries 
were  baptized  by  Dr.  Thompson  in  1869,  two 
men  of  good  education  and  talent,  and  an  old 
woman. 

The  first  church  was  organized  on  March  10, 
1872,  in  Dr.  Hepburn's  dispensary,  by  Dr.  \ 
Brown  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church.  It  was 
called  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Japan,  and  con- 
sisted of  nine  young  men  and  two  older,  all  Japa- 
nese. They  had  been  baptized  by  missionaries  of 
the  Church  of  England,  the  Presbyterian,  and  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Churches,  but  all  united  in  one 
organization,  and  the  first  article  of  their  rules  of 
government  read  :  "  Our  Church  does  not  belong 
to  any  sect  whatever;  it  believes  only  in  the 
name  of  Christ,  in  whom  all  are  one ;  it  believes 
that  all  who  take  the  Bible  as  their  guide  and  who 
diligently  study  it  are  the  servants  of  Christ  and 
our  brethren.  For  this  reason  all  believers  on 


148  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

earth  belong  to  the  family  of  Christ  in  the  bonds 
of  brotherly  love."  l 

This  church  was  a  result  of  the  meetings  of  the 
Week  of  Prayer,  January,  1872,  which  led  to  a 
real  revival.  "  After  a  week  or  two  the  Japanese, 
for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  nation, 
were  on  their  knees  in  a  Christian  prayer  meeting, 
entreating  God  with  great  emotion,  with  the 
tears  streaming  down  their  faces,  that  he  would 
give  his  Spirit  to  Japan  as  to  the  early  Church 
and  to  the  people  around  the  apostles.  These 
prayers  were  characterized  by  intense  earnest- 
ness. Captains  of  men-of-war,  English  and 
American,  who  witnessed  the  scene,  wrote  to  us, 
'  The  prayers  of  these  Japanese  take  the  heart  out 
of  us."  A  missionary  wrote  that  the  intensity  of 
feeling  was  such  that  he  feared  often  that  he 
would  faint  away  in  the  meetings.  Half  a  dozen, 
perhaps,  of  the  Japanese  thus  publicly  engaged  in 
prayer  ;  but  the  number  present  was  much  larger. 
This  is  the  record  of  the  first  Japanese  prayer 
meeting."  2 

In  1873  the  new  missionaries  who  came  to 
Japan  doubled  the  Protestant  missionary  force, 
and  the  work  began  to  expand  and  advance. 
The  attitude  of  the  influential  classes  became  in- 
creasingly kindly.  There  were  many  who  began 
to  regard  Christianity  with  great  favor.  The 
Japanese  Minister  at  Washington  advised  the 
establishment  of  complete  religious  liberty,  and 
wrote  home  of  what  he  had  seen  of  Protestant 
Christianity,  saying  :  "The  growing  influence  of 
the  Bible  is  remarkable  and  makes  itself  felt 
everywhere.  The  Bible  contains  an  overpower- 
ing force  of  liberty  and  justice,  guided  by  the 
united  strength  of  wisdom  and  goodness." 

1  Gary,  Japan  and  Its  Regeneration,  p.  90. 
8  Osaka  Conference  Report ',  p.  52  f. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    JAPAN  149 

Among  the  Japanese  Christians  the  name  that 
stands  out  most  distinctly  is  Neesima,  a  member 
of  the  Kumiai,  or  Congregational  churches,  and 
the  man  who  more  than  any  other  contributed  to 
the  success  of  the  Congregational  work,  and  in 
his  measure  to  the  success  of  Christianity  in  gen- 
eral in  Japan.  He  was  born  in  Tokyo  in  1842, 
the  son  of  a  Samurai,  or  feudal  retainer  of  the 
lord  or  daimio  of  Annaka,  a  city  about  seventy- 
five  miles  northwest  of  Tokyo.  As  a  lad  he 
read  a  history  of  the  United  States  prepared  in 
Chinese  by  an  American  missionary  in  China, 
Dr.  Bridgman,  and  at  once  began  to  long  "  to 
learn  American  knowledge,"  as  he  said.  He 
learned  the  Dutch  language,  found  a  Chinese 
Bible,  and  continued  to  hunger  to  see  the  world, 
and  resolved  to  run  away  in  spite  of  the  penalty 
of  death  that  hung  over  every  Japanese  who  left 
his  country.  He  succeeded  in  getting  away  to 
Hakodate,  and  from  there  to  Shanghai,  where  one 
of  Alpheus  Hardy's  ships,  the  "Wild  Rover,"  took 
him  on  board,  and  brought  him  to  Boston.  Mr. 
Hardy  educated  him  at  Phillips  Academy,  An- 
dover,  Amherst  College,  and  Andover  Seminary. 
When  Neesima  heard  that  the  great  Christian 
merchant  intended  to  befriend  him,  he  wrote  him 
the  following  letter  :  "I  am  very  thankful  to  you. 
You  relief  me,  but  I  can't  show  to  you  my  thank- 
fulness with  my  words.  But  I  at  all  times  bless 
to  God  for  you  with  this  prayer :  O  God  !  if 
thou  hast  eyes,  look  upon  me.  O  God  !  if  thou 
hast  ears,  hear  my  prayer.  Let  me  be  civilized 
with  Bible.  O  Lord  !  Thou  send  thy  Spirit 
upon  my  Hardy,  and  let  him  relief  me  from  sad 
condition.  O  Lord  !  please  !  set  thy  eyes  upon  my 
Hardy,  and  keep  out  him  from  illness  and  tempta- 
tion. Your  obedient  servant,  Joseph  Neesima."  V 
1  Hardy,  Life  of  Neesima,  p.  12. 


150  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

When  Iwakura's  embassy  came  to  America  in 
1871,  Mori,  the  Japanese  Minister  in  Washington, 
summoned  Neesima  to  be  the  interpreter  of  Mr. 
Tanaka,  the  Commissioner  of  Education.  He 
agreed  to  act  only  on  terms  that  preserved  his 
independence  and  condoned  his  leaving  Japan 
when  it  was  criminal  to  do  so,  and  he  bore  him- 
self during  his  connection  with  the  embassy  as  a 
thorough  Christian  man,  exerting  a  powerful  in- 
fluence on  the  minds  of  its  members.  He  left  its 
service  as  soon  as  he  could.  "  I  would  rather 
preach  truth  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  with  the 
bread  of  affliction,  than  to  do  any  other  things 
with  the  earthly  luxuries,  pleasures  and  honors." 
In  1874  he  returned  to  Japan,  his  heart  and  mind 
full  of  the  project  of  a  Christian  College,  which  he 
finally  realized  in  the  Doshisha,  of  which  he  was 
president  until  his  death  in  1890.  A  modest  man 
of  moderate  ability,  neither  learned,  eloquent  nor 
masterful,  he  accomplished  his  work  and  exerted 
his  mighty  influence  because  of  his  true,  Christ- 
like  heart,  his  utter  unselfishness  and  overflowing 
love.  "  On  one  occasion,  when  a  rebellious 
spirit  calling  for  severe  discipline  was  manifested 
among  the  students,  he  acquiesced  in  the  inflic- 
tion of  the  penalties  voted  by  the  Faculty,  but, 
in  the  presence  of  the  school  assembled  in  the 
chapel,  declared  with  deep  emotion  that  the  ex- 
istence of  this  spirit  was  proof  of  a  defective  gov- 
ernment, for  which  he  was  responsible  and  for 
which,  therefore,  he  also  deserved  punishment; 
and  taking  a  cane  proceeded  to  strike  his  own 
hand  with  a  force  that  brought  tears  and  indignant 
protests  from  the  entire  school."  l  Neesima  was 
proof  that  Japanese  Christianity  was  not  merely 
ethical  or  intellectual  or  political,  but  as  genuine 
and  real  as  the  Christianity  of  any  people  or  any 
1  Hardy,  Life  of  Neesima,  p.  346  f. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    JAPAN  151 

age.  He  commanded  the  respect  of  everyone,  and 
when  he  died,  his  students  bore  his  body  through 
a  heavy  rain  to  the  grave,  and  a  procession  a  mile 
and  a  half  long  followed  it.  While  it  still  lay  in 
his  house,  "the  chief  judge  of  the  Kyoto  court 
came  in,  a  pleasant  gentleman,  always  ready  to 
say  something  amusing,"  related  a  Japanese 
friend.  "He  entered  the  house  very  softly,  and 
before  passing  into  the  room  where  the  casket 
was,  took  off  his  outer  garment,  so  that  I  saw  he 
wore  his  ceremonial  dress.  He  came  in  very 
gently  and  made  a  most  profound  bow  ;  then,  as 
if  speaking  to  a  live  person,  he  said  :  '  Mr. 
Neesima,  while  you  were  living  I  was  much  in- 
debted to  you.  I  am  sorry  I  have  not  accom- 
plished more.  In  the  future  I  will  try  to  do 
better :  '  and,  shedding  tears  like  a  child,  he  left 
the  room."  l 

In  the  Presbyterian  Missions  the  work  grew 
steadily.  Dr.  Thompson  had  been  conducting 
Bible  and  other  classes  in  his  home,  and  in  1874, 
organized  a  church  in  Tokyo,  which  from  the  be- 
ginning was  full  of  life  and  activity.  Little  groups 
of  Christians  went  out  from  this  church  and  the 
church  at  Yokohama,  and  the  gospel  spread 
through  city  and  country.  The  girls'  school, 
Graham  Seminary,  was  enlarged,  and  a  number 
of  young  men  applied  for  preparation  for  the  min- 
istry. In  1877,  a  great  step  was  taken  in  the  or- 
ganization of  a  United  Church  of  Christ  in 
Japan,  which  embraces  now  all  the  churches 
established  by  the  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Churches,  North  and  South,  of  the  United 
States,  and  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Scotland,  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Church, 
the  Dutch  and  German  Reformed  Churches.  It 
is  now  the  strongest  Protestant  Church  in  Japan. 

1  Hardy,  Life  of  Neesima,  p.  328  f. 


152  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

It  was  hoped  for  a  time  that  other  Churches 
would  join  in  the  movement,  but  the  effort  to 
secure  their  cooperation  failed.  At  the  same 
time,  a  Union  Theological  School  was  formed, 
and  in  1883  a  Union  College.  In  June,  1886, 
these  were  combined,  and  called  the  Meiji 
Gakuin,  or  "  College  of  the  Era  of  Enlightened 
Peace." 

In  1876  the  constant  advance  of  enlightened 
sentiment  was  well  illustrated  by  the  institu- 
tion of  the  Christian  Sunday,  which  made  the 
observance  of  the  day  far  easier  for  the  converts. 
There  were,  of  course,  great  obstacles  to  be  over- 
come,  among  them  the  innate  skepticism  of  the 
people.  One  missionary  tells  of  a  baptized 
Japanese  who  confessed  to  him  that  he  and  a 
friend  had  often  wondered  at  the  missionary's 
cleverness  in  making  it  appear  in  his  preaching 
that  he  believed  what  he  said.  Then  when  his 
friend  was  converted  and  became  an  evangelist, 
he  could  not  help  laughing  aloud  when  he 
noticed,  as  he  thought,  the  same  thing  in  him.  But 
Christianity  had  triumphed  over  his  skeptical  sus- 
picion, and  now  he  believed,  and  believed  that  men 
believed. 

So  Christianity  spread  quietly,  until  about  1883, 
when  a  great  movement  set  in.  An  intemperate 
zeal  for  foreign  things  arose,  many  of  the  people, 
men  and  women,  adopting  foreign  dress,  dancing, 
amusements,  etc.,  and  the  current  of  thought,  in 
politics  and  religion,  turning  in  the  same  direc- 
tion more  violently.  Christian  literature  was  in 
immense  demand,  missionary  meetings  were 
crowded,  great  revivals  broke  out,  the  missionaries 
were  thronged.  Great  churches  grew  up,  as  in 
Kochi,  where  the  people  hung  on  the  missionary, 
and  expected  Dr.  Knox  to  know  everything,  from 
theology  to  the  methods  of  steel  manufacture.  It 


THE   MISSIONS    IN   JAPAN  153 

was  not  an  unreal  movement,  however.  In  some 
meetings  the  sense  of  sin  was  so  keen  that  the 
people  cried  out  with  tears,  so  that  the  non- 
Christians  said,  "The  Christians  chastise  their 
church  members  cruelly."  The  converts  grew 
by  thousands.  The  mission  schools  were  over- 
run. Political  influence  cooperated  with  the 
genuine  religious  impulse.  Mr.  Fukazavva,  one 
of  the  leading  men  of  the  country,  said,  in  1885  : 
"Like  most  of  my  countrymen  I  am  personally 
indifferent  to  religious  affairs.  In  fact  I  do  not 
possess,  as  we  are  accustomed  to  say,  the  proper 
sense  for  religion ;  and  because  1  do  not  possess 
it,  I  have  never  engaged  in  any  discussion  with 
regard  to  the  comparative  excellence  of  this  or  of 
that  faith.  I  have  never  recommended  any  kind 
of  religion,  but  from  a  political  point  of  view  I 
admit  that  the  religion  of  the  West  is  at  the  pres- 
ent moment  of  great  importance  to  Japan.  .  .  . 
That  which  regulates  the  conscience  of  man  and, 
therefore,  prevents  unlawful  acts  is  undoubtedly 
religion,  and  I  look  upon  it  as  the  law  and  the 
authority  of  the  soul.  I  once  said  that  if  no  mis- 
sionaries had  ever  come  to  our  country,  the  dis- 
soluteness and  wantonness  of  foreigners  would 
have  come  to  be  much  greater,  and  our  relations 
to  foreigners  would  not  be  what  they  now  are.  .  .  . 
I  think  from  this  may  be  seen  that  the  influence  of 
the  religion  of  the  West  is  great  and  good."  He 
wrote  in  his  paper,  they//'/  Shimpo,  the  same  year  : 
"  Would  it  not  then  be  of  great  immediate  advan- 
tage if  we  should  give  Christianity  a  place  among 
the  religions  which  we  profess  ?  We  cannot  per- 
suade Shintoists  to  change  their  views,  but  we  can 
tell  them  that  they  should  look  at  the  ascendency 
of  Christianity  in  our  land  as  an  event  lying  in 
the  natural  course  of  things,  and  that  for  the  sake 
of  their  country,  they  ought  to  refrain  from  mak- 


154  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

ing  any  disturbance  whatever.  We  do  not  pro- 
pose that  the  majority  of  our  people  should  be- 
come Christians ;  a  small  percentage  would  suf- 
fice. All  that  is  necessary  is  to  accept  the  name 
of  a  Christian  country."1  The  Christian  move- 
ment spread  so  rapidly  that  the  missionaries  be- 
gan to  cherish  the  hope  of  winning  the  whole 
country.  The  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Mis- 
sions issued  an  appeal  for  reinforcements,  and 
said  that  the  course  of  sending  at  once  sufficient 
help  "  will  go  far  toward  ending  our  work  in  the 
Empire.  By  this  it  is  not  meant  that  the  close  of 
the  century  will  see  all  knowing  the  Lord,  from 
the  least  to  the  greatest.  But  it  does  mean  that 
there  is  good  reason  to  hope  that  a  vigorous  aggres- 
sive church  may  then  be  planted  in  all  parts  of 
the  land.  It  means  that  foreign  missions  may 
then  give  way  to  home  missions.  It  means  that  so 
far  as  we  are  concerned,  the  gospel  of  the  King- 
dom will  have  been  preached  as  a  witness  in 
Japan.  And  when  that  is  done  the  Church  at 
home  will  be  free  to  go  elsewhere."  And  Pro- 
fessor Basil  Chamberlain,  of  the  Imperial  Uni- 
versity, said  in  1890:  "To  those  who  can  look 
back  thirty  years,  or  even  only  twenty  years, 
the  change  in  the  position  of  Christianity  in, 
Japan  is  most  striking,  indeed  well-nigh  incred- 
ible. Then  it  was  perilous  for  a  Japanese  to 
confess  Jesus.  Now  such  confession  is  rather 
fashionable  than  otherwise.  Then  it  was  hard 
work  for  a  missionary  to  obtain  a  native  teacher. 
Now  there  are  hundreds  of  ordained  and  unor- 
dained  native  preachers  and  teachers  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  old  proclamation,  which  since  A.  D. 
1638,  had  prohibited  the  religion  of  Jesus  as 
'a  corrupt  sect,'  was  still  posted  on  the  notice 
boards  of  the  public  thoroughfares  as  late  as  1873. 
1  Ritter,  History  of  Protestant  Missions,  pp.  128-130. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    JAPAN  155 

The  government  now  openly  tolerates  the  build- 
ing of  churches  and  the  performance  of  Christian 
funeral  rites,  though  we  are  not  aware  of  the  old 
antichristian  laws  having  been  formally  repealed. 
The  danger  is  now,  not  from  persecution,  but 
from  worldly-minded  favor.  Some  of  the  leaders 
of  Japanese  thought,  while  professing  themselves 
personally  indifferent  to  all  religions,  have  cold- 
bloodedly advocated  the  adoption  of  Christianity 
as  a  school  of  morals  and  music,  and  as  likely  to 
be  advantageous  in  political  negotiations  with  the 
powers  of  the  West.  To  make  all  Japan  Chris- 
tian by  edict  some  fine  morning,  is  not  on  the 
programme  of  the  Japanese  statesmen  of  the  hour. 
But  that  something  of  the  kind  should  happen 
within  the  next  twenty  years,  is  not  nearly  so  un- 
likely as  many  things  that  have  actually  happened 
in  this  land  of  realized  improbabilities."  l 

These  hopes,  however,  were  not  realized.  Our 
missionaries  pressed  out  earnestly  in  their  work. 
The  two  girls'  schools  in  Tokyo  were  combined 
in  1890  under  the  name  of  Joshi  Gakuin.  The 
work  spread  to  the  Hokkaido,  the  northern  island. 
Mr.  Winn  occupied  Kanazawa  on  the  West  Coast 
in  1879.  Osaka,  the  great  manufacturing  city, 
was  entered  in  1881.  Hiroshima  in  1887,  Kyoto 
in  1890,  Yamaguchi  and  Fukui  in  1891,  and  the 
Mission  became  two  missions,  one  embracing 
Tokyo,  Yokohama,  the  districts  dependent  on 
them,  and  the  Hokkaido,  and  the  other,  the 
west  and  south  of  Honda,  the  main  island,  and 
the  north  shore  of  Kiushiu,  the  southern  island. 
Girls'  schools,  primary  schools,  preaching  places, 
grew  up  through  the  missions,  but  about  1890 
the  great  wave  of  popular  interest  began  to  sub- 
side. The  people  came  to  feel  that  they  had 
been  absorbing  Western  ways  with  an  immoder- 
1  Things  Japanese,  p.  240  f. 


156  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN   MISSIONS 

ate  zeal.  Irritation  was  caused  by  the  unwilling- 
ness of  Western  powers  to  revise  their  treaties  and 
yield  their  rights  of  extra-territoriality.  The  na- 
tionalist spirit,  fostered  by  the  conservative  ele- 
ments, Buddhist  and  Shintoist,  became  dominant. 
The  Church  felt  the  influence  of  it.  Relations 
between  native  preachers  and  missionaries  became 
less  cordial.  Doctrinal  carelessness,  or  the  in- 
clination to  patch  up  some  system  that  would 
satisfy  the  demands  of  the  nationalist,  anti-foreign 
spirit  crept  into  the  churches.  Rationalism  and 
secularism  were  included  among  other  Western 
imports.  Buddhism  improved  the  opportunity  to 
absorb  as  much  as  possible  of  Christian  methods 
and  forms,  and  to  adapt  itself  to  the  demands  of 
agnostics  or  mere  moralists,  and  also  to  exalt  it- 
self as  the  national  religion.  In  consequence,  a 
great  reaction  set  in  at  the  very  time  that  Japan 
passed  under  a  parliamentary  government  and  a 
constitution  which  declared  at  last:  "Japanese 
subjects  shall  within  limits  not  prejudicial  to 
peace  and  order,  and  not  antagonistic  to  their 
duties  as  subjects,  enjoy  freedom  of  religious  be- 
lief." The  nationalist  spirit  that  had  arisen  pre- 
vented some  of  the  beneficial  results  which  would 
otherwise  have  flowed  from  this  formal  declara- 
tion of  religious,  liberty.  Many  small  ways  have 
been  found  for  hindering  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

After  the  China  and  Japan  War  this  anti- 
foreign  feeling  began  to  subside.  In  1899  re- 
vised treaties  went  into  effect  giving  Japan  full 
recognition  as  a  state  on  equality  with  Western 
nations,  so  that  the  irritating  influences  of  the 
sense  of  humiliation  were  removed,  and  the  praise 
awarded  Japan  for  her  part  in  the  expedition  for 
the  relief  of  Peking,  combined  with  the  steady 
good  sense  of  her  leading  statesmen  to  restore  a 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    JAPAN  157 

fairer  and  more  kindly  spirit  toward  the  West. 
There  are  still  many  alternations  of  public  feeling 
in  Japan  as  a  whole,  and  there  are  many  local- 
ities where  Christianity  meets  with  implacable 
opposition ;  but  the  era  of  steady,  quiet  work  has 
begun,  in  which  it  is  hoped  that  there  will  be  no 
eddying  tide  of  great  hostility  or  opposition.  The 
chief  foe  now  in  Japan  is  the  secular,  commercial, 
materialistic  spirit.  The  government  educational 
system,  as  in  India,  is  turning  out  men  who  have 
lost  their  old  faith,  and  have  no  new  faith  in  its 
stead.  In  Tokyo  I  asked  some  of  the  leading 
men  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  several  years  ago, 
what  the  present  spirit  of  the  Japanese  was,  and 
all  said  :  "  Industrialism  is  the  predominant  trait 
of  the  day.  The  aristocracy  of  money  is  the 
and  highest  aristocracy.  And  national  pride,  a 
false  sense  of  honor  as  individuals  and  as  a  nation. 
This  has  been  greatly  enlarged  by  the  war  with 
China,  but  its  real  source  was  in  Confucianism, 
and  it  was  fostered  under  the  feudal  system  for-' 
centuries.  Commercialism  and  secularism  on  out 
hand,  nationalism  and  patriotism  on  the  other- 
these  are  the  springs  of  Japan's  present  life." 

What  is  best  in  Japan  has  been  the  product  of 
Christianity,  and  no  missionaries  have  done  more 
in  bringing  this  good  to  Japan  than  those  coop- 
erating with  the  Church  of  Christ.  Many  mem- 
bers of  this  Church  have  served  in  public  office, 
besides  being  faithful  in  Christian  work.  The 
president  of  the  Diet,  Kataoka  Kenkichi,  is  an  el- 
der in  a  Presbyterian  church,  and  when  he  took 
office,  gathered  his  friends  for  a  prayer  meeting  in 
his  behalf,  that  he  might  be  faithful  in  all  his 
work  as  a  Christian  man.  Rear  Admiral  Serata 
who  has  just  died  was  a  devoted  member  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  The  recent  bill  prohibiting  the 
smoking  of  tobacco  by  persons  under  the  age  of 


158  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

eighteen,  was  introduced  and  passed  through  the 
Diet  by  the  Hon .  Sho  Nemoto,  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  Church. 

In  the  matter  of  the  position  of  woman,  the 
missions  have  been  exerting  great  influence.  The 
ideas  regarding  woman's  position  that  have  pre- 
vailed in  Japan,  are  shown  in  the  fact  that  one 
out  of  three  marriages  issues  in  a  divorce,  and  in 
these  quotations  from  The  Great  Learning  for 
Woman,  a  Japanese  moral  treatise:  "The 
only  qualities  that  befit  a  woman  are  gentle 
obedience,  charity,  mercy  and  quietness.  .  .  . 
A  woman  has  no  particular  end.  She  must  look 
to  her  husband  as  her  lord  and  master,  serve  him 
with  all  worship  and  reverence,  not  despising  or 
thinking  lightly  of  him.  The  great  lifelong  duty 
of  woman  is  obedience.  .  .  .  Such  is  the  stu- 
pidity of  her  character  that  it  is  incumbent  on 
her,  in  every  particular,  to  distrust  herself  and  to 
obey  her  husband.  We  are  told  that  it  was  the 
custom  of  the  ancients,  on  the  birth  of  a  female 
child  to  let  it  lie  on  the  floor  for  the  space  of  three 
days.  Even  in  this  may  be  seen  the  likening  of 
the  man  to  heaven  and  of  the  woman  to  earth  ; 
and  the  custom  should  teach  a  woman  how  nec- 
essary it  is  for  her  in  everything  to  yield  to  her 
husband  the  first,  and  to  be  herself  content  with 
the  second,  place ;  to  avoid  pride,  even  if  there  be 
in  her  actions  aught  deserving  praise;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  if  she  transgress  in  aught  and  incur 
blame,  to  wend  her  way  through  the  difficulty  and 
amend  the  fault,  and  so  conduct  herself  as  not 
again  to  lay  herself  open  to  censure  ;  to  endure 
without  anger  and  indignation  the  jeers  of  others, 
suffering  such  things  with  patience  and  humility." 
Christianity  has  given  woman  a  new  place,  and 
introduced  into  Japan  the  Christian  idea  of  the 

1  Chamberlain,  Things  Japanese,  p.  375. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    JAPAN  159 

home.  The  women's  and  girls'  schools  are  send- 
ing out  annually  scores  of  women  to  set  up  such 
homes  and  the  work  for  women  is  bringing  them 
new  life  and  mental  quickening. 

In  1888,  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  Jap- 
anese was  completed.  It  had  been  begun  in 
1872,  and  under  the  chairmanship  of  Dr.  Hep- 
burn missionaries  of  various  churches,  including 
the  Church  of  England,  had  worked  harmoniously 
and  with  great  success.  In  celebrating  the  com- 
pletion of  the  task  and  his  own  devoted  work  on 
it  of  nearly  sixteen  years,  Dr.  Hepburn  took  the 
Old  Testament  in  one  hand  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment, which  had  been  completed  in  1880,  in  the 
other,  and  placing  them  reverently  together  laid 
them  down,  "  a  complete  Bible,"  adding,  "What 
more  precious  gift — more  precious  than  moun- 
tains of  silver  and  gold — could  the  Christian  na- 
tions of  the  West  offer  to  this  nation  ?  May  this 
sacred  book  become  to  the  Japanese  what  it  has 
come  to  be  for  the  people  of  the  West,  a  source  of 
life,  a  messenger  of  joy  and  peace,  the  foundation 
of  a  true  civilization  and  of  social  and  political 
prosperity  and  greatness."  l 

The  missionaries  have  not  completed  their  task 
in  Japan  before  the  twentieth  century,  as  some  at 
one  time  almost  believed  they  would  do.  But 
they  have  done  much.  As  a  professor  in  the 
Imperial  University  remarked  not  long  ago,  to  one 
of  his  colleagues:  "In  sentiment  we  are  all 
Christians."  That  is  not  true,  but  the  fact  that 
it  was  said  marks  the  great  work  missions  have 
helped  to  do.  A  great  deal  more  remains  to  be 
done.  Nine-tenths  of  the  40,000,000  of  Japan 
are  still  ignorant  of  Christianity,  millions  of  them 
as  ignorant  as  the  Chinese.  And  they  must  learn. 
They  are  "a  nation  of  hero  worshipers,  un- 
1  Ritter,  A  History  of  Protestant  Missions,  p.  227. 


l6o  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

discriminating,  perhaps,  at  times  in  the  objects  of 
their  worship,  but  always  accessible  to  the  high- 
est forms  of  emotion."  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
must  be  made  the  object  of  that  worship,  and 
King  in  reality  over  the  sentiments,  the  wills,  the 
minds,  and  all  the  life  of  the  one  non-Christian 
people  who  have  been  accorded  a  place  among 
the  nations  which  call  themselves  Christian. 
Would  that  the  name  were  deserved,  so  mani- 
festly deserved  that  the  Japanese  could  no  longer 
say  what  one  of  their  moralists  recently  said, 
"  The  practice  of  the  uncivilized,  who  have  no  re- 
spect for  foreign  property  and  foreign  lives,  and 
that  of  the  highly  civilized,  who  feel  at  liberty  to 
violate  all  the  maxims  of  home  morality  in  deal- 
ing with  alien  races,  occupy  the  same  position," 
and  that  their  papers  would  not  lament  that,  "  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  a  Christian  country  anywhere. 
When  we  come  to  politics  and  to  national  stand- 
ards of  morals  the  distinction  between  Christians 
and  non-Christians  is  lost.  Christian  families  there 
are  and  perhaps  a  few  Christian  villages  here  and 
there,  but  Christian  countries  and  Christian  gov- 
ernments do  not  exist  anywhere."  l 

1  Tokyo    Maishu    Shinshi,  quoted   in    Japan    Weekly 
Mail,  Oct.  13,  1900. 


THE  MISSION  IN  KOREA 


161 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   MISSION   IN   KOREA 

THE  Korea  Mission  is  one  of  the  youngest  mis- 
sions of  the  Board.  Several  missions  have  been 
organized  since  its  institution,  but  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  Philippines  they  were  in  fields 
previously  occupied.  Yet  in  none  of  the  mis- 
sions old  or  young,  is  the  work  meeting  with  more 
marked  success,  or  are  the  prospects  for  the  future 
more  bright. 

Our  first  missionary,  H.  N.  Allen,  M.  D.,  now 
the  Minister  of  the  United  States  to  Korea,  en- 
tered the  field  in  1884,  and  so  began  resident 
Protestant  mission  work.  The  Rev.  John  Ross, 
of  Manchuria,  had  visited  the  Korean  frontier  in 
1873,  and  had  subsequently  translated  portions 
of  the  Gospel  of  Luke,  and  then  the  whole  New 
Testament,  into  Korean,  and  had  even  visited  the 
valleys  of  the  extreme  north  of  the  country,  where 
many  were  found  ready  to  confess  Christ  and  to 
receive  baptism. 

Long  before  these  efforts,  however,  the  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries  had  toiled  and  striven,  re- 
joiced in  success  and  gladly  met  persecution, 
among  the  Koreans.  And  the  way  in  which 
thousands  of  Catholic  Koreans  met  death  rather 
than  surrender  their  faith — so  many  of  them  fall- 
ing on  the  banks  of  the  river  Han  in  the  great 
martyrdom  of  1866  that  it  ran  red  to  the  sea, — is 
proof  enough  of  the  worthy  character  of  the 
people. 

163 


164  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

In  every  incident  of  its  history  the  Korea  Mis- 
sion has  been  one  of  the  most  interesting  missions 
of  our  Church.  It  was  so  in  its  establishment. 
A  Korean  of  high  rank,  named  Rijutei,  was  sent 
to  Japan  about  1880,  to  represent  his  government. 
He  proved  a  good  deal  of  a  failure  as  a  Christian, 
later,  but  in  Japan  was  deeply  interested  in  Chris- 
tianity, and  served  as  a  "Man  of  Macedon  "  to 
awaken  American  Christians  to  an  interest  in 
Korea.  In  consequence,  Dr.  H.  N.  Allen,  then 
a  member  of  the  Central  China  Mission,  was 
transferred  to  Korea.  Christianity  was  still  a 
forbidden  religion,  but  when  Dr.  Allen  arrived 
in  September,  1884,  General  Foote,  the  United 
States  Minister,  appointed  him  physician  to  the 
Legation,  which  assured  his  position.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1884,  an  insurrection  broke  out  in  Seoul. 
Six  Koreans  were  murdered  at  an  official  dinner 
party,  and  the  King's  nephew,  Prince  Min  Yong 
Ik,  who  had  been  Korean  Minister  to  the  United 
States,  was  wounded.  The  native  doctors  wished 
to  treat  the  wounds  by  pouring  wax  into  them, 
and  were  astonished  at  Dr.  Allen's  skill  in  wash- 
ing them  out  and  sewing  them  up.  The  Prince 
recovered,  and  Dr.  Allen's  influence  was  un- 
bounded. The  King  made  him  court  physician, 
and  fitted  up  a  government  hospital  which  was 
placed  under  his  care.  Dr.  Herron  and  Dr.  Un- 
derwood soon  joined  Dr.  Allen,  and  thanks  to 
their  tactful  work  and  the  work  of  their  later  as- 
sociates, the  mission  work  has  spread  throughout 
the  country  with  small  impediment. 

For  some  years  the  work  grew  slowly.  But  it 
was  a  new  field,  and  compared  with  the  growth 
in  China,  where  Morrison  waited  seven  years  for 
the  first  convert,  the  progress  was  extraordinary 
even  before  the  China-Japan  war.  Since  then, 
the  work  has  advanced  by  leaps  and  bounds.  In 


THE   MISSION    IN    KOREA  165 

1894  there  were  141  communicants,  fourteen 
only  having  been  added  during  the  preceding 
year.  Then  came  the  furrowing,  renovating  in- 
fluence of  the  war,  and  now,  with  only  a  few 
years'  work  there  are  more  than  300  congregations 
and  3,000  communicants  with  scores  of  church 
buildings,  the  great  majority  of  which  are  pro- 
vided by  the  people  with  no  aid  from  the  Mission. 
It  would  give  an  incorrect  idea  to  say  that  there 
are  a  hundred  native  teachers,  for  almost  all  the 
Christians  have  been  trained  to  regard  each  dis- 
ciple of  Christ  as  of  necessity  a  worker  for  Christ 
and  for  men.  Christianity  has  laid  powerful 
hold  upon  the  country.  Instead  of  calling 
missionaries  and  all  foreigners  "devils,"  as  in 
interior  China,  the  Koreans  use  to  the  missionaries 
words  of  the  highest  respect,  and  their  bearing  in 
the  country  leaves  nothing  to  be  asked  in  the  way 
of  kindness  and  courtesy.  Christians  are  viewed 
with  remarkable  confidence  and  regard,  instead 
of  with  distrust  and  hate.  Even  in  the  south, 
where  the  direct  results  have  been  scanty,  this 
change  has  been  marked.  "Six  years  ago,"  one 
of  the  native  Christians  at  Fusan  told  us,  "I 
came  down  through  this  province  of  Kiung  Sang 
with  Dr.  Hardie.  We  could  not  get  meals  at  the 
inns,  and  when  we  preached  we  met  a  perfect 
storm  of  derision.  Now,  we  can  get  into  the  inns 
anywhere,  and  derision  has  almost  wholly  disap- 
peared." In  the  north  the  Church  has  spread 
and  penetrated  far  and  wide.  We  visited  one 
day  a  large  and  well-furnished  temple  of  the 
Chinese  god  of  war,  in  the  city  of  Pyeng  Yang. 
The  gates  were  closed  and  locked,  and  the  pave- 
ments were  overgrown  with  grass.  At  last  a 
keeper  who  said  he  was  there  only  because  it  was 
a  cheap  place  to  lodge,  let  us  in  and  showed  us 
the  forsaken  shrines  and  the  unworshiped  gods. 


1 66  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

"Why  is  this?"  we  inquired.  "Where  are  the 
worshipers?"  "Oh,"  said  the  man,  "there 
are  so  many  people  who  believe  in  this  Jesus 
doctrine  that  no  one  comes  here  any  more." 

There  are  now  four  stations,  Seoul,  Pyeng 
Yang,  Fusan,  and  Taiku.  Gensan  was  occupied 
but  has  been  transferred  to  the  Canadian  Presby- 
terians. Thus  far  the  two  most  fruitful  stations 
have  been  Seoul  and  Pyeng  Yang.  Seoul  is  the 
capital,  a  city  of  300,000  population,  situated  on 
the  Han  River,  about  twenty-five  miles  from 
Chemulpo  on  the  sea.  A  railroad  now  connects 
the  two  places.  It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  more 
picturesque  city  than  Seoul,  with  its  broad  streets 
and  "narrow  alleys,  its  rice-thatched  and  tile-roofed 
houses,  half  a  dozen  royal  palaces,  and  the  great 
city  walls  running  straight  up  the  red  mountains 
which  encircle  the  city.  There  are  three  churches, 
besides  the  hospital,  schools,  dispensaries,  book- 
rooms,  and  all  the  evangelistic  work. 

Mr.  Gifford  tells,  in  Every  Day  Life  in  Korea, 
how  the  first  church  was  built.  "  Deacon  Hong, 
being  gifted  with  mechanical  ability,  was  put  in 
charge  of  the  construction ;  while  Deacon  Ye  and 
I  undertook  to  raise  the  subscriptions.  We  can- 
vassed every  member  of  the  church,  then  the 
members  of  two  or  three  little  churches  that  had 
recently  swarmed  into  other  parts  of  the  city,  then 
a  couple  of  Christian  officials  whom  we  knew. 
The  same  was  done  among  the  women  of  the 
church.  But  to  carry  the  plan  through  it  was 
absolutely  necessary  that  the  Korean  men  in  the 
church  should  contribute  work.  But  this  was 
hard  for  many  of  them,  as  they  considered  them- 
selves to  belong  to  the  gentleman  class,  and 
thought  they  would  lower  themselves  should  they 
labor  with  their  hands.  So,  by  way  of  example, 
I  put  on  my  old  clothes  and  worked  three  after- 


THE   MISSION   IN    KOREA  167 

noons  at  various  forms  of  coolie  work.  One  day 
it  was  shoveling  dirt  in  grading  the  church  site. 
A  Korean  shovel,  you  know,  consists  of  an  iron- 
shod  wooden  spade,  with  a  handle  six  feet  long. 
Into  its  wooden  sides  are  bored  holes,  and  two 
long  straw  ropes  are  inserted.  Then  three  or 
more  men  take  hold  of  the  two  ropes  and  the 
shovel  handle,  and  while  the  man  at  the  handle 
guides  the  operations,  they  vigorously  heave  the 
dirt.  Another  day  the  work  was  the  braiding 
of  the  straw  ropes.  The  third  day  we  pounded 
broken  tiles  and  stones  into  the  holes  into  which 
the  foundation  stones  to  support  the  wooden  .pil- 
lars were  to  be  inserted.  This  was  done  with  a 
bowlder  to  which  were  attached  a  dozen  straw 
ropes.  Men  and  boys  took  hold  of  the  ropes  and 
straightened  out  as  in  tossing  with  a  blanket ;  at 
a  signal  they  relaxed,  and  the  stone  fell  like  a 
trip  hammer.  Koreans  turn  this  work  into  a 
frolic,  by  heaving  the  stone  in  time  to  the  chant- 
ing of  a  chorus  that  is  sung  responsively  to  the 
solo  singing,  usually  improvised,  of  one  of  their 
number.  The  men  of  the  church  took  hold  of 
the  work  in  a  very  gratifying  manner,  as  did  the 
small  boys  in  the  school,  who,  after  school  hours, 
helped  in  all  ways  possible  to  them,  for  instance, 
scouring  the  streets  of  the  city  for  broken  tiles 
and  stones.  When  skilled  labor  was  required, 
Mr.  Hong  called  in  a  carpenter  and  the  men 
worked  under  his  instructions."  Apart  from  the 
first  lesson  of  the  gospel  about  sin,  that  church 
teaches  the  Koreans  a  scarcely  less  important 
lesson  about  work. 

In  1895  cholera  appeared  in  Seoul  and  played 
fearful  havoc  among  the  people.  Special  hos- 
pitals were  opened,  and  the  missionaries  instead 
of  fleeing,  gave  themselves  to  the  work  of  caring 
for  the  victims.  The  people  were  very  favorably 


1 68  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

impressed.  The  King  sent  $300  to  the  hospital, 
and  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  a  testimonial 
of  thanks.  Meanwhile  the  women  doctors  had 
done  many  services  to  the  Queen,  and  Mrs.  Un- 
derwood, M.  D.,  had  acted  as  physician  for  the 
ladies  of  the  court.  No  foreigners  have  been  so 
trusted  and  respected  by  the  King  or  loved  by 
the  people. 

The  work  at  Pyeng  Yang  which  Mrs.  Bishop, 
the  traveler,  said  was  the  most  impressive  mission 
work  she  had  seen  in  any  part  of  the  world,  has 
developed  since  the  war  between  China  and 
Japan.  For  several  years  before  that  mission- 
aries had  visited  the  place,  and  in  1893  had  suc- 
ceeded in  buying  a  house,  but  when  they  at- 
tempted to  occupy  it,  the  authorities  drove  them 
out  and  threw  some  of  the  native  Christians  into 
prison.  Although  tortured  and  threatened  with 
death  unless  they  renounced  Christ,  they  stood 
firm,  witnessing  most  impressively  to  the  power 
of  the  gospel.  Their  release  was  secured,  how- 
ever, and  Mr.  Moffett's  presence  helped  to 
strengthen  their  faith.  When  the  war  broke  out 
the  Chinese  army  poured  into  Pyeng  Yang,  and 
after  staying  as  long  as  he  could  accomplish  any 
good  Mr.  Moffett  returned  to  Seoul  at  the  en- 
treaty of  the  native  Christians  themselves.  The 
battle  between  the  Japanese  and  Chinese  armies 
nearly  ruined  Pyeng  Yang.  The  wrecks  of 
houses  and  frequent  bare  spaces  testify  still  to 
the  destruction  that  was  wrought;  but  on  the 
other  hand,  the  exclusive  conceit  and  bigotry  of 
the  people,  which  made  Pyeng  Yang  one  of  the 
hardest  fields  in  Korea,  was  broken,  too. 

In  1900  a  new  church  was  built  at  Pyeng  Yang 
which  will  seat  1,200  or  more,  and  which  on  com- 
munion Sundays  is  crowded  to  the  doors.  The 
people  themselves  gave  a  great  part  of  the  money 


THE   MISSION   IN    KOREA  169 

and  surrounding  congregations  contributed  their 
labor  with  great  joy. 

The  examination  of  one  of  the  candidates  for 
admission,  not  to  the  Church  but  to  the  cate- 
chumenate,  a  probationary  stage,  which  was  held 
on  the  afternoon  preceding  this  communion,  will 
show  both  the  care  of  the  workers  to  admit  only 
really  converted  men,  and  also  the  spirit  of  the 
inquirers.  Many  of  the  questions  were  put  to 
the  catechumen,  whose  name  was  Yen,  by  the 
native  leaders  themselves:  "Why  have  you  a 
mind  to  be  baptized?"  The  candidate,  who 
was  evidently  under  some  feeling,  replied, 
"Formerly  I  did  not  know  Christ;  now  I  be- 
lieve in  him."  "Why?"  "On  account  of 
my  many  sins.  I  have  sinned  much."  "What 
kind  of  sins?  "  "I  know  scarcely  any  sins  that 
I  have  not  committed."  "What  ones?"  asked 
Ye,  a  native  leader  of  great  capacity  and  penetra- 
tion. "I  have  worshiped  spirits.  I  did  not 
know  that  I  was  sinning  before  I  heard  of  Jesus. 
I  heard  his  words  that  the  people  of  the  world 
are  sinners,  and  that  he  had  come  to  stand  in 
sinners'  stead.  I  learned  this  from  a  man  named 
Chu."  "Who  is  Jesus?"  "The  Son  of  God. 
The  Bible  taught  me  this,  and  that  he  had  come 
and  died  and  lived  again."  "  Has  Christ  borne 
your  old  sins?"  "Yes,  he  has."  "If  you 
died  before  baptism  would  you  go  to  heaven  ?" 
1 '  Yes. "  "Is  baptism  not  useless,  then  ?  "  "It 
is  a  sign  of  union  with  Christ,  showing  that  I  am 
a  part  of  the  body  of  Christ."  "  Do  you  observe 
the  Sabbath  ?  "  "I  have  done  so  since  I  became 
a  catechumen."  "Why?"  "Because  it  is  a 
holy  day."  "  What  is  your  business?  "  "  I  am 
a  go-between  or  middleman."  "  Fair-days  come 
on  each  fifth  day.  When  they  fall  on  Sunday  do 
you  still  observe  the  day  ?  "  "  Yes ;  I  have  done 


1 70  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

so  for  seven  months."  "Do  you  love  Jesus ?" 
"Yes;  he  saved  me  and  will  give  me  new  life." 
"  Do  you  love  your  wife  and  children  ?  "  "  Yes. 
We  used  to  fight.  I  got  drunk  in  those  days. 
Now  I  love  her  and  I  love  Jesus  more  than  all." 
"Do  you  understand  the  Lord's  Supper?  "  "I 
think  so.  It  is  kept  so  as  not  to  forget  Jesus. 
The  eating  and  drinking  are  marks  of  our  being 
joined  to  Christ."  "Do  you  still  sin?"  "I 
cannot  help  doing  wrong  daily,  but  I  pray  to  God 
when  I  do."  "  Does  God  hear  you  for  the  good- 
ness of  your  praying  ?  Have  you  any  merit  ?  ' ' 
"  No.  He  does  it  for  Christ's  sake.  As  for 
merit,  I  have  not  the  slightest  little  bit."  "  How 
do  you  know  you  are  forgiven?"  "The  Bible 
says  that  if  we  confess,  we  are  forgiven.  I  be- 
lieve it."  "Why  do  you  believe  the  Bible?" 
"It  is  the  word  of  God."  "How  do  you 
know?"  "The  story  of  the  shepherds  and  the 
coming  of  the  wise  men  make  me  think  that  it  is 
true."  "Have  you  ever  had  a  concubine?" 
"No."  "Do  you  drink?"  "I  was  a  hard 
drinker,  but  not  now.  This  body  is  not  mine. 
If  I  abuse  it,  I  shall  receive  eternal  punishment." 
"  Do  you  speak  the  truth  ?  "  "I  have  lied  even 
while  I  was  a  catechumen,  about  the  price  of 
goods  so  as  to  make  a  '  squeeze,'  but  I  have  quit. 
It  is  hard  in  my  business ;  but  I  cannot  lie  and  be 
Christ's  disciple."  "Tell  of  your  experience  as 
a  catechumen."  "Well,  other  middlemen  will 
not  have  anything  to  do  with  me,  now  that  I  have 
become  a  Christian.  I  am  able  to  read  the  Bible 
in  both  Chinese  and  Korean,  and  since  becoming 
a  catechumen  I  have  been  going  to  the  church 
every  night,  where  a  number  of  us  meet  and  read. 
I  have  preached  to  my  wife  and  children,  but 
only  my  wife  and  one  son  have  come  yet  to  be- 
lieve and  to  do."  "  What  is  your  idea  of  God  ?  " 


THE    MISSION    IN    KOREA  171 

"I  know  that  he  is  the  very  high  Spirit." 
"Where  is  he?"  "There  is  not  one  place 
where  he  is  not."  "  Has  God  power?  "  "  Yes. 
He  has  power  to  deliver  us  from  wicked  devils." 
"  Do  these  tempt  you  much  ?  "  "  Yes  ;  if  I  don't 
keep  reading  the  Bible  I  am  constantly  tempted 
to  gamble,  to  commit  adultery,  etc."  "Have 
you  given  up  sacrifices?"  asked  Ye.  "Yes." 
"  What  do  you  do  on  the  day  of  ancestral  wor- 
ship?" "I  go  to  the  church  on  that  day." 
"Can  Christ  keep  you  from  sin?"  "Yes,  if  I 
trust  him  with  all  my  strength."  "  But  will  he 
continue  to  do  what  he  has  done?"  "Can  I 
think  otherwise  of  him?"  was  the  rejoinder. 
"  You  can't  see  the  Lord,"  said  Kim ;  "  how  do 
you  know  all  this?"  "I  believe,  therefore  I 
know."  "I  fear,"  said  Mr.  Lee,  "that  in 
about  six  months  you  will  quit  this  business." 
The  man  looked  up,  sharply.  "  Not  so,"  he  said. 
"  Do  you  know,"  the  questioner  resumed,  "  that 
Jesus  loves  you?"  "If  he  had  not  loved  me, 
he  would  not  have  died  for  me.  From  the  time 
he  died  until  now  I  know  that  his  love  was  be- 
stowed on  me."  "But  how  do  you  know,"  I 
asked,  "that  Jesus  died  for  Koreans  ?  was  it  not 
for  Europeans  only?"  "No,"  he  said,  keenly; 
"  he  died  for  the  whole  world,"  as  though  I  had 
suggested  depriving  him  of  his  own.  "  We  have 
asked  a  great  many  questions  now,"  said  Ye,  as 
though  satisfied.  I  told  the  man,  then,  that  we 
were  glad  to  welcome  him  into  the  great  society 
of  our  Saviour,  made  up  of  millions  from  every 
land,  and  that  though  we  should  never  see  him 
again  here  we  should  meet  him  above  at  the  re- 
union eternal.  "That  is  a  thankful  word,"  he 
replied  as  with  glowing  face  he  passed  out,  and 
Chung,  one  of  the  leaders,  added  :  "I  never 
thought  before  of  that  not  meeting,  and  then 


172  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

meeting  above.  That  was  a  good  word.  I  am 
glad."  Then  the  meeting  closed  with  Ye's  call- 
ing the  attention  of  the  others  to  a  passage  he 
had  found  in  the  thirty-first  chapter  of  Exodus 
that  was  stronger  on  the  Sabbath,  he  thought, 
than  anything  in  the  New  Testament.  And  we 
went  out  thinking  of  the  session  meeting  in  Drum- 
tochty  and  its  parallel  in  Pyeng  Yang. 

The  native  name  of  Korea  is  Chosen,  the  Land 
of  Morning  Calm.  And  it  is  a  placid,  ancient 
country.  Its  history  runs  back  nearly  as  far  as 
China's,  and  it  has  as  many  curious  ways.  There 
is  an  odd  poem  by  Captain  Bostvvick  of  the  United 
States  Steamship  "Palos,"  who  was  stationed  off 
Chemulpo  too  long,  and  whose  memories  accord- 
ingly are  not  of  the  pleasantest,  which  describes 
many  of  the  curious  features  of  the  country  and 
people :  — 

"  There's  a  singular  country  far  over  the  seas, 

Which  is  known  to  the  world  as  Korea, 
Where  there's  nothing  to  charm  and  nothing  to  please, 

And  of  cleanliness  not  an  idea. 
Where  a  lucid  description  of  persons  and  things 

Quite  baffles  the  readiest  pen, 
And  stirs  up  strange  qualms  in  the  poet  who  sings 

Of  that  far  away  land  of  Chosen. 

"  Where  the  houses  they  live  in  are  mostly  of  dirt, 

With  a  tumble-down  roof  made  of  thatch  ; 
Where  soap  is  unknown,  it  is  safe  to  assert, 

And  where  vermin  in  myriads  hatch  ; 
Where  the  streets  are  all  reeking  with  odors  more  rife 

Than  the  smells  from  a  hyena's  den  : 
One  visit  is  surely  enough  for  one  life, 

In  that  far  away  land  of  Chosen. 

"  Where  the  garments  are  made  on  a  very  queer  plan, 

And  are  something  quite  out  of  the  common  ; 
Where  women  wear  pantaloons  just  like  a  man, 
And  men  braid  their  hair  like  a  woman. 


THE   MISSION    IN    KOREA  173 

The  married  man  gathers  his  hair  at  the  top 

In  a  knot  much  resembling  a  wen, 
The  female  coift'ure  is  a  huge  ugly  mop, 

In  that  far  away  land  of  Chosen. 

"  Where  the  hats  have  a  crown  much  too  small  for  the 

head, 

While  the  brim  measures  several  feet  round, 
Where  the  principal  fire  is  under  the  bed, 
And  the  chimney  a  hole  in  the  ground. 
Where  the  coolies  can't  work  without  singing  a  song, 

And  must  stop  for  a  rest  now  and  then, 
While  they  snatch  a  few  whiffs  from  a  pipe  three  feet 

long, 
In  that  far  away  land  of  Chosen. 


"  Where  men  of  war  fresh  from  some  pleasanter  clime 

Look  in  for  a  few  days  or  so, 
Where  the  '  Palos '  alas !  spends  the  most  of  her  time 

In  the  harbor  about  Chemulpo. 
Where  those  who  escape  never  care  to  return 

To  that '  Morning  Calm  '  country  again, 
Where  there's  nothing  on  earth  that  can  cause  one  to 

yearn 
For  that  far  away  land  of  Chosen." 

It  is  a  very  sleepy,  un progressive  land.  The 
government  is  an  absolute  monarchy,  and  such  a 
thing  as  official  honesty  is  almost  as  rare  as  in 
Persia.  Indeed,  the  governments  of  the  two 
lands  are  not  unlike,  save  that  there  is  no  tyran- 
nical priesthood  in  Korea,  and  that  the  nature  of 
the  people  is  milder  than  the  nature  of  the  people 
nourished  under  Islam.  And  yet,  there  is  vigor 
in  the  Koreans,  too.  "I  saw  a  young  man," 
says  Mr.  GifTord,  "with  a  stone  in  his  hand,  chase 
another  man  all  over  a  village  one  night,  because 
the  latter,  belonging  to  a  lower  social  grade  than 
he,  had  dared  to  smoke  a  pipe  in  his  presence." 
And  he  speaks  also  of  the  native  stone  fights : 
"At  a  certain  time  each  spring  the  Koreans  in- 


174  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

dulge  in  stone  fights,  a  rather  rough  kind  of 
sport.  Two  sides  face  each  other  with  leaders 
wearing  padded  hats  and  carrying  clubs.  These 
skirmish  awhile  with  an  occasional  interchange  of 
blows,  and  then  the  two  sides  rain  stones  at  each 
other,  much  like  a  snowball  fight.  Presently, 
with  a  mighty  roar,  one  side  begins  to  drive  the 
other  back.  Spectators  catch  the  enthusiasm  and 
join  the  attacking  force.  The  fun  waxes  fast  and 
furious — so  furious  that  not  infrequently  some  one 
is  maimed  or  killed.  Nothing  that  I  have 
seen  in  Korea  has  given  rne  such  an  impression 
of  the  latent  force  and  fire  in  the  usually  apathetic 
Korean  as  this  somewhat  brutal  sport."  1 

And  Christianity  has  touched  the  people  and 
wakened  them  from  their  sloth,  and  turned  these 
elements  of  real  vigor  in  them  into  useful,  earnest 
energy.  It  is  seen  in  the  whole-souled  patriotism 
of  the  Christians. 

The  reasons  for  this  are  manifold.  One  is  that 
Christianity  has  quickened  and  vivified  the  minds 
of  the  people  and  given  them  boldness  of  speech, 
so  that  they  now  see  the  abuses  of  the  past  and 
the  glory  of  independence,  and  are  able  to  reason 
dauntlessly  about  such  things.  Another  is  that 
Christianity  is  essentially  an  emancipating  reli- 
gion, and  leads  inevitably  to  the  desire  for  free 
government  and  pure  and  popular  institutions. 
Yet  another  is  that  the  Catholics  have  always 
erred  in  the  want  of  patriotism,  and,  indeed,  in 
being  guilty  of  downright  treason  to  Korea. 
Coming  out  into  Protestant  enlightenment  just  at 
the  time  that  Korea  was  being  roughly  hustled  by 
Japan  into  the  paths  of  civilization  quite  a  little 
against  its  will,  and  then  seeing  Japan's  grasp 
failing,  and  the  country  standing  without  true 
heart  or  strong  mind,  the  Christians  have  been 
1  Gifford,  Every  Day  Life  in  Korea,  p.  58. 


THE   MISSION    IN    KOREA  175 

roused  to  speak  out  boldly  for  their  King,  to  be 
sure,  but  also  for  righteous  government  and  just 
laws.  A  further  reason  is  to  be  found  in  the  in- 
fluence of  some  leading  men  who  recognize  that 
the  one  hope  of  the  country  lies  in  the  power  of 
Christianity  and  Christian  education.  One  of 
these  said  to  me  :  ' '  The  only  hope  of  the  country 
is  in  the  churches.  There  is  no  moral  charac- 
ter in  Korea.  It  is  being  created  in  the  churches. 
There  is  no  cohesion,  or  unity,  or  confidence, 
among  men.  There  is  no  company  of  men,  how- 
ever small,  capable  of  acting  together.  The 
churches  are  raising  up  bands  of  men  who  know 
how  to  combine  for  a  common  object,  who  are 
quickened  intellectually,  and  are  full  of  character, 
courage,  and  hope.  To  convert  and  educate  the 
common  people  is  the  only  hope  of  the  land." 

What  deliverance  the  gospel  has  wrought  in 
Korea  from  the  perpetual  fear  of  evil  spirits,  what 
peace  it  brings,  and  how  capable  the  Koreans  are 
of  receiving  it,  are  shown  by  the  life  of  An,  the 
blind  preacher  in  Pyeng  Yang.  The  first  time  I 
saw  him  he  was  coming  up  the  path  from  the  gate 
to  Mr.  Lee's  house.  He  did  not  carry  a  cane, 
but  felt  his  way  along  with  his  great  wooden 
shoes  with  turned-up  toes.  There  was  no  light  in 
his  eyes,  but  on  his  face  was  the  peace  of  God, 
and  he  brought  an  air  of  quietness  and  rest  into 
the  room,  where  he  sat  down  and  clasped  his 
hands,  and  lifted  his  sightless  eyes  to  the  two  vis- 
itors from  a  far  country,  who  had  come  "  several 
ten  thousands  of  miles"  to  see  his  people,  and 
bring  to  them  the  greetings  of  their  fellow-Chris- 
tians in  a  strange  land. 

"  Shepherd,"  said  he  to  the  missionary,  "  it  is 
good  that  these  visitors  have  come.  They  have 
come  through  many  troubles.  Our  hearts  are 
encouraged  by  them."  And  this  was  An's  story  : 


176  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

"  I  am  twenty-four  years  old,  and  lost  my  sight 
when  I  was  three  years  old.  For  two  and  a  half 
years  I  have  been  a  Christian.  When  I  first  heard 
the  gospel  I  said,  '  This  is  Catholic  doctrine. 
If  I  believe  it,  I  shall  die.'  But  as  I  heard  it  over 
and  over,  I  lost  my  fear  that  I  would  be  crazed 
by  it,  and  soon  I  wakened  to  the  sense  of  my  sins. 
YVhat  were  they  ?  I  served  and  worshiped  the 
devils.  I  was  a  sorcerer,  like  most  blind  men  in 
Korea.  I  made  paper  devils,  and  I  did  really 
believe  in  these,  which  I  put  up  in  houses  and 
prayed  to.  I  thought  the  devil  came  into  them. 
I  was  in  earnest  in  this,  though  at  times  I  knew 
I  was  deceiving  people.  But  one  day  the  change 
came  into  my  heart,  and  then  I  knew  that  I  was 
doing  wrong,  and  that  devils  were  not  to  be  wor- 
shiped, but  Jesus  only. 

"Our  people  are  very  superstitious,"  he  went 
on.  "  Ten  days  ago  I  met  a  crowd  of  blind  sor- 
cerers making  devils  and  worshiping  them.  And 
I  said,  '  These  paper  devils  don't  answer.  Look, 
I  will  pray  to  them.'  The  religion  of  our  people 
is  the  worship  of  spirits  and  of  ancestors.  Six 
times  a  year  they  worship  before  the  ancestral 
tablets,  bringing  offerings,  and  kneeling  with  di- 
sheveled hair,  weeping  or  silent  for  hours.  On 
the  first  day  of  our  year,  and  on  certain  holidays, 
and  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  fifth  and  eighth 
months,  they  go  out  to  the  graves  to  worship  the 
dead.  It  is  very  sad. 

"  Life  is  very  different  now  to  me.  The  words 
of  Jesus  are  very  sweet.  What  ones  do  I  like 
best  ?  '  Ye  cannot  serve  two  masters,'  and  '  Thou 
shall  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine  heart.' 
And  of  all  the  incidents  of  Jesus'  life,  I  love  most 
the  story  of  the  healing  of  the  man  who  was  born 
blind.  It  is  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  John." 

"  Are  you  sure  that  this  is  a  true  religion  ?  "  I 


THE   MISSION   IN    KOREA  1)7 

asked.  "Some  day,  perhaps,  other  foreigners 
will  come  and  will  tell  you  that  our  religion  is  not 
true,  that  it  is  only  one  of  the  many  religions  of 
men.  What  will  you  say  then?  " 

"Then,"  said  An,  "we  will  answer  in  the 
words  of  the  nineteenth  verse  of  the  fourth  chap- 
ter of  Acts,  '  Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of 
God  to  hearken  unto  you  rather  than  unto  God, 
judge  ye.'  ' 

"Do  you  know  all  your  Bible  so  well?"  I 
asked. 

"I  know  it  well,"  answered  An. 

"  Do  you  know  what  is  in  the  fifteenth  chapter 
of  Luke?" 

"Oh,  yes,"  he  replied;  "  the  parables  of  the 
Lost  Sheep,  the  Lost  Coin,  and  the  Prodigal  Son. ' ' 

"And  do  you  know  in  which  chapter  in  Mat- 
thew is  the  story  of  the  feeding  of  the  five  thou- 
sand ?" 

"Yes;  in  the  fourteenth,"  was  his  instant 
reply. 

"  You  see,"  he  said,  "  I  think  of  the  gospels  all 
the  time.  In  my  little  room  at  the  gate  others 
read  them  to  me.  Is  it  possible  that  anything 
else  could  be  so  sweet  to  me  ?  " 

"And  do  you  have  in  your  mind  a  picture  of 
Jesus?  "  we  inquired. 

"Yes,"  he  answered;  "I  think  of  him  as  a 
man,  but  full  of  color,  of  brightness  and  glory." 

"  Does  Jesus  help  you  ?  " 

"  If  Jesus  did  not  help  me  I  could  not  live  !  " 

Blind  An  was  the  preacher  to  the  women  at 
Pyeng  Yang.  It  would  not  be  proper  for  them 
to  have  a  pastor  who  could  see  them,  and  so  in 
their  meetings  and  in  their  church,  the  women's 
church,  which  had  been  crowded  out  of  the  other 
church  because  there  was  not  room  enough  for  men 
and  women  together,  he  told  forth  with  his  loving 


178  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

gentleness  and  his  lovely  smile  the  story  of  his  Mas- 
ter's kindness.  Very  clean  and  winning  he  looked 
in  his  fresh  white  clothes,  as  he  stood  before  his 
flock,  seeing  nothing  save  Him  whom,  not  having 
seen,  he  loves,  and  in  whom  he  rejoices  with  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

The  evening  before  we  left  Pyeng  Yang,  An 
came  to  say  good-by.  We  should  never  meet 
again  here,  he  said,  but  we  would  above.  He 
had  been  turned  out  of  his  home  when  he  became 
a  Christian,  but  there  was  a  home  of  many  man- 
sions there.  He  could  not  remember  the  sight  of 
us  when  we  were  gone,  but  he  wanted  something 
by  which  to  recall  us.  So  I  gave  him  my  card, 
that  he  might  feel  that.  If  he  should  write  to  us 
in  America,  would  we  be  able  to  get  anyone  to 
read  it  to  us?  Soon,  he  went  on,  he  would  be 
laying  aside  his  poor  body,  and  in  heaven  he 
would  see. 

What  would  he  wish  to  see  first?  we  asked. 
"First  Jesus,"  he  answered,  "then  God,  then  all 
the  believers.  I  must  see  Jesus  first,  for  he  has 
been  the  Mediator  between  my  soul  and  God. 
He  knows  all  my  life  here,  and  he  will  take  my 
hands  and  tell  me  to  come.  I  fear  I  could  not 
see  the  Father  if  I  did  not  see  Jesus  first.  He 
will  show  him  to  me.  I  think  of  Jesus  even  now 
as  a  man,  for  he  took  our  human  form  with  him, 
and  I  do  think  of  him  constantly  so — my  own." 

I  see  dear  An  still,  as  early  in  the  morning  of 
the  next  day  he  stood  in  the  path  that  led  down 
to  his  little  room  by  the  gate,  gently  waving  his 
hand  to  us  as  we  walked  off  southward  toward 
Seoul,  and  smiling  after  us  with  that  quiet,  patient 
smile  which  I  hope  to  see  again  some  day,  beam- 
ing with  new  joy,  in  the  land  where  the  eyes  of 
the  blind  are  opened  and  the  Lamb  is  their  ever- 
lasting light. 


THE    MISSION    IN    KOREA  179 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Mrs.  Bishop  wrote  so 
strongly  after  visiting  Korea.  It  is  only  wonder- 
ful that  the  Church  does  not  hear  the  call : — 

"  Now  a  door  is  opened  wide  in  Korea,  how 
wide  only  those  can  know  who  are  on  the  spot. 
Very  many  are  prepared  to  renounce  devil  worship 
and  to  worship  the  true  God  if  only  they  are 
taught  how,  and  large  numbers  more  who  have 
heard  and  received  the  gospel,  are  earnestly  crav- 
ing to  be  instructed  in  its  rules  of  holy  living. 
I  dread  indescribably  that  unless  many  men  and 
women  experienced  in  winning  souls  are  sent 
speedily,  the  door  which  the  Church  declines  to 
enter  will  close  again." 


THE  MISSION  IN  SYRIA 


181 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   MISSION    IN    SYRIA 

"  THE  province  of  Syria,  according  to  the 
Turkish  official  maps,  extends  from  the  Taurus 
Mountains  on  the  north,  to  the  river  Arish  on  the 
borders  of  Egypt,  and  from  the  Mediterranean  to 
the  Euphrates.  But  the  territory  actually  occu- 
pied by  the  American  Mission  in  Syria,  extends 
from  Mount  Carmel  and  Acre  on  the  south,  to 
the  Island  of  Arvad  to  the  north,  and  from  the 
Sea  to  the  Jordan  valley,  Mount  Hermon,  Baal- 
bee  and  Harnath  in  the  east.  The  area  of  official 
Syria  is  about  60,000  English  miles,"  1  or  about 
one  and  one-quarter  times  the  size  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. It  is  a  land  of  hills  and  valleys,  of  trop- 
ical heat  in  the  Jordan  valley  in  the  summer,  and 
perpetual  snow  on  Lebanon.  As  in  Bible  times, 
where  the  springs  or  water  brooks  afford  means  of 
irrigation  to  the  husbandman  the  soil  is  fertile 
and  productive,  and  yields  the  fruits  and  grains 
mentioned  in  the  Bible,  and  supports  the  domes- 
tic animals  which  for  centuries  have  been  the  re- 
liance of  Israel. 

"  The  population  to-day  is  not  far  from  two 

1  The  passages  in  quotation  marks  in  this  chapter  and  not 
otherwise  credited  are  from  an  admirable  unpublished 
paper  on  the  Syria  Mission  in  the  archives  of  the  Presby- 
terian Historical  Society  in  Philadelphia,  by  the  Rev.  H. 
H.  Jessup,  D.  D.,  whose  intellectual  power  and  devoted 
spirit  have  made  him  a  blessing  to  Syria  for  forty-five 
years.  The  quotations  are  made  with  Dr.  Jessup's  consent. 


184  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

millions,  of  whom  about  one-half,  or  940,000  are 
Mohammedans  of  the  orthodox  or  Sunnee  faith. 
They  regard  the  Sultan  as  their  political  and  re- 
ligious head.  There  are  also  about  60,000  Met- 
awaleh  or  Sheah  Mohammedans,  followers  of  the 
Persian  sect,  who  accept  the  Caliphate  of  Ali  in- 
stead of  Abu  Bekr.  The  Orthodox  Mohamme- 
dans are  in  the  majority  in  all  the  secondary  cit- 
ies, in  Damascus  and  Aleppo,  and  in  the  villages 
of  Palestine  and  Northern  Syria.  The  Druzes  in 
Southern  Lebanon  and  the  Hauran  number  about 
75,000;  they  are  a  secret  sect,  neither  Moslem 
nor  Christian,  having  an  initiated  class,  the  Ock- 
als,  who  are  taught  the  higher  doctrines,  while 
the  mass  have  virtually  no  religion.  The  sect  is 
more  of  a  political  than  a  religious  society,  and 
the  national  spirit  is  intense.  The  Druze  nation 
can  neither  increase  nor  decrease.  It  is  lawful 
to  pretend  to  believe  the  religion  of  any  sect 
among  whom  they  dwell.  They  profess  one  God, 
infinite,  indefinable,  incomprehensible  and  pas- 
sionless, who  has  become  incarnate  in  a  succes- 
sion of  ten  men,  and  the  last  of  whom  was  the 
mad  Egyptian  Caliph,  Hakim  Bamr  Illah,  who 
was  assassinated  A.  D.,  1044.  As  a  race  they  are 
courteous,  hospitable,  industrious  and  brave. 
They  regard  the  English  as  their  friends,  and 
those  in  Lebanon  are  anxious  to  have  their  chil- 
dren educated."  In  the  early  days  the  mission- 
aries had  hopes  of  reaching  the  Druzes  success- 
fully, inasmuch  as  though  the  Druze  superstition 
sprang  originally  from  Islam  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, it  had  departed  wholly  from  the  original 
faith  of  Mohammed.  As  one  of  their  leaders  said 
to  Mr.  Bird,  in  1831,  regarding  the  liberty  of 
polygamy  allowed  by  the  Koran,  "  I  tell  my 
Moslem  friends  the  Angel  Gabriel  never  brought 
such  a  precept  down  to  the  prophet ;  he  brought 


THE   MISSION    IN    SYRIA  185 

that  down  himself."  l  The  Druzes  at  this  time 
said  to  Mr.  Bird  that  they  believed  in  the  gospel. 

"The  Nusairiyeh  in  the  mountains  between 
Tripoli  and  Antioch  and  on  the  plains  of  Cilicia, 
number  about  250,000.  They  are  a  mystic  sect, 
with  features  borrowed  from  Islam  and  the  old 
star  worshipers ;  but  at  their  secret  rites  of  initi- 
ation use  a  sacrament  of  bread  and  wine.  Women 
are  not  taught  their  religion,  and  are  despised. 
They  are  a  strange,  wild  race,  but  some  of  their 
youth,  educated  and  taught  the  gospel,  have  been 
sincere  and  exemplary  Christians.  The  Nusai- 
riyeh are  said  to  be  remnants  of  the  Canaanites 
driven  out  by  Joshua. 

"The  Ismailiyeh,  20,000,  are  not  unlike  their 
neighbors,  the  Nusairiyeh,  and  live  west  and 
northwest  of  Hamath.  They  are  a  fanatical  off- 
shoot of  Islam,  inhospitable,  suspicious,  and  virtu- 
ally inaccessible.  They  are  supposed  to  be  de- 
scendants of  the  assassins  of  crusading  times. 

"The  Yezidees  are  devil  worshipers  and  live 
near  Aleppo  and  Mosul,  but  have  been  nearly 
exterminated.  Ten  thousand  gypsies  are  scat- 
tered in  every  part  of  the  land,  speaking  Arabic 
and  their  own  gypsy  language.  The  Jews  in 
Syria  and  Palestine  number  not  less  than  60,000, — 
in  Palestine,  30,000,  Damascus,  6,000,  Aleppo, 
15,000,  and  Beirut,  3,000,  and  in  other  places, 
6,000.  Those  in  Aleppo  and  Damascus,  of  the 
ancient  native  Jewish  stock,  speak  Arabic,  those  in 
Palestine  and  the  coast  cities  speak  German,  Span- 
ish, Polish,  Russian,  and  Hebrew.  They  are  all 
under  the  influence  of  their  Rabbis,  those  in  Pales- 
tine being  largely  dependent  for  their  bread  on  the 
Rabbis'  fund  are  almost  beyond  reach  of  Christian 
missionary  labor.  Those  in  Syria  are  industrious, 
and  their  merchants  are  prosperous.  The  Zion- 
1  Bird,  Bible  Work  in  Bible  Lands,  p.  281. 


1 86  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

ist  Colonization  Movement,  for  founding  Jewish 
Colonies  in  Palestine,  is  thus  far  strenuously  op- 
posed by  the  Turkish  Government.  Some  of  the 
existing  colonies  are  well  established,  and  at  least 
holding  their  own. 

"The  Christian  sects  or  oriental  churches 
speaking  the  Arabic  language,  are  the  Maronites 
of  Lebanon,  250,000,  the  orthodox  Greeks,  233, 
ooo,  the  Papal  Greeks  or  Greek  and  Armenian 
Catholics,  80,000,  the  Jacobites,  15,000,  and  in 
Kessah,  Antioch,  and  Aleppo,  some  10,000  Ar- 
menians. The  Maronites,  250,000,  represent  the 
ancient  Syrian  Church,  and  get  their  name  from 
John  Maron,  monk,  priest,  and  patriarch,  who 
died  A.  D.  707.  Since  the  twelfth  century  they 
have  been  in  communion  with  the  Latin  Church, 
although  adhering  to  the  oriental  rite.  Their 
service  is  conducted  in  the  Syriac,  a  language  not 
understood  by  the  people.  The  only  sin  un- 
pardonable by  the  priests,  is  reading  the  Bible. 
Their  head  is  the  Patriarch  of  Antioch.  Their 
inferior  parish  priests  are  allowed  to  marry." 
Many  of  the  early  trials  of  the  missionaries  came 
from  the  Maronites.  One  of  the  earliest  blasts 
of  opposition  came  from  the  Patriarch  in  1827,  in 
a  warning  to  his  people.  "  After  speaking  of  the 
'  infernal  hardihood  which  the  unhappy  and 
wretched  Lattoof  el  Ash-shi  and  his  sons  had 
reached  in  having  dared  to  associate  themselves 
with  the  family  of  a  Bible  man,'  and  that  too,  in 
spite  of  many  warnings,  he  proceeds :  '  We, 
therefore,  make  known  to  all  that  those  sons  of 
wickedness,  Lattoof  el  Ash-shi  and  his  sons, 
together  with  all  the  rest  of  the  family,  male  and 
female,  have  fallen  under  the  heavier  excommuni- 
cation, and  now  we,  by  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
which  is  almighty,  do  confirm  this  curse  upon 
them.  They  are  therefore  accursed,  cut  off  from 


THE   MISSION   IN    SYRIA  187 

all  Christian  communion;  and  let  the  curse  en- 
velop them  as  a  robe  and  spread  through  all  their 
members  like  oil,  break  them  in  pieces  like  a 
potter's  vessel  and  wither  them  like  the  fig  tree 
cursed  by  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  himself;  let  the 
evil  angel  rule  over  them  by  day  and  by  night, 
asleep  and  awake,  and  in  whatever  circumstances 
they  may  be  found.  We  permit  no  one  to  visit 
them,  or  employ  them,  or  do  them  a  favor,  or 
give  them  a  salutation,  or  converse  with  them  in 
any  form  or  manner,  but  let  them  be  avoided  as 
a  putrid  member  and  as  hellish  dragons. ' ' 1 

"The  orthodox  Greeks,  233,000,  Arab  in  race, 
Greek  in  religion,  are  under  the  Patriarch  of 
Antioch,  resident  in  Damascus.  They  are  more 
liberal  than  any  other  Christian  sect,  and  allow 
the  people  to  read  the  Scriptures.  Thousands  of 
their  boys  and  girls  have  been  trained  in  Prot- 
estant schools,  and  in  1896,  the  Prince  Gargarin, 
superintendent  of  the  130  Russian  schools,  re- 
cently established  in  Syria  and  Palestine,  directed 
the  Arabic  Bible,  printed  at  the  American  Press, 
to  be  used  in  all  their  schools.  The  Greek  parish 
priests'are  married  men.  A  strong  patriotic  feel- 
ing is  growing  among  the  Arab  Greeks  in  favor 
of  having  all  their  bishops  selected  from  the  Arab 
race.  But  the  Hellenic  Brotherhood,  of  the  Holy 
Sepulcher  in  Jerusalem,  generally  succeed  by 
lavish  bribes  in  electing  a  foreign  Greek  as 
Patriarch  of  Antioch."  In  the  early  days  many 
of  the  missionaries'  best  friends  were  found 
among  the  members  of  the  Orthodox  Greek 
Church,  beginning  with  Professor  Bombas  of 
the  Island  of  Scio  who  entered  most  heartily 
into  the  evangelical  views  and  plans  of  the 
mission. 

"  The  Jacobites,  15,000  in  number,  are  a  small 
1  Bird,  Bible  Work  in  Bible  Lands,  p.  233. 


1 88  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

body  of  dissenters  from  the  Greek  Church, 
monophysites,  holding  to  one  nature  in  Christ, 
and  were  named  from  Jacob  Baradai,  Bishop  of 
Edessa,  who  died  A.  D.  587.  They  number  some 
15,000  in  Hums,  Hamath,  Suddud  and  vicinity. 
The  Greek  Catholics  are  converts  from  the  Greek 
Church  to  Romanism,  retaining  the  Arabic  lan- 
guage in  their  service,  and  their  priests  are  al- 
lowed to  marry.  They  number  about  50,000, 
and  are  among  the  most  wealthy  and  enterprising 
of  the  native  Christians  of  Syria.  The  other 
Latin  sects  number  some  30,000.  The  Greeks 
look  for  protection  to  Russia,  the  Maronites  to 
France,  the  Greek  Catholics  to  Austria,  the 
Druzes  to  England,  the  Protestants  to  England 
and  Germany,  the  little  sect  called  Latins  to 
Italy,  and  the  foreign  Jews  to  the  countries  from 
which  they  emigrated.  Politics  and  religion  are 
thus  hopelessly  entangled.  The  Empire  being 
an  absolute  despotism  there  can  be  no  discussion 
of  national  politics,  and  the  natural  passion  for 
political  discussion  expends  itself  in  discussing 
European  politics. 

"  The  difficulties  which  met  the  first  missionaries 
were  various  and  great : — 

I.  The  illiteracy  of  the  people.     Few  could 
read.     With  the  exception  of  the  Moslem  schools 
for  teaching  the  Koran,  there  were  no  schools  in 
the  land. 

II.  The  mediaeval  tyranny  of  the  ecclesiastics 
of  the  oriental  churches,  who  had  the  power  to 
imprison  and  torture  heretics,  and  who  terrorized 
their  adherents. 

III.  Religious   liberty   was   unknown.       The 
Turkish   Government  allowed  all  to  remain  un- 
molested in  their  own  sect,  or  if  they  changed 
from  one  to  another,  it  must  be  from  one  sect  of 
infidelity  to  another.     One  of  their  Muftis  de- 


THE   MISSION    IN    SYRIA  189 

clared  that  infidelity  is  but  one  sect,  but  apostasy 
from  Islam  was  death.  In  1843  a  young  man  was 
publicly  beheaded  in  Constantinople  on  this  ac- 
count. 

IV.  The  intense  conservatism  of  the  Syrians 
and  their  hostility  to  any  innovations  secular  or 
religious. 

V.  The  nonexistence  of  educational  and  re- 
ligious books,  especially  a  correct  Arabic  version 
of  the  Bible. 

VI.  The  religious  and  political  hostility  of  the 
various  sects,  the  unsettled  political  state  of  the 
country,    resulting   civil  wars   and  commotions, 
the  intrigues  of  papal  emissaries  among  the  orien- 
tal churches,  and  the  lavish  use  of  money  to  bribe 
them  over  to  accept  the  supremacy  of  Rome. 

VII.  The  jealousy  of  the  Ottoman  Government 
of  all  foreign  influence  educational  and  religious. 

VIII.  The   pride  and  overbearing  arrogance 
of  the  Mohammedans  as  the  ruling   class,    and 
their  regarding  all  Christians  as  creature  worship- 
ers.    In  consequence  of  the  saint  worship,  picture 
worship,    and   virgin    worship,    of    the    oriental 
churches,  Protestantism  was  looked  on  as  merely 
another  sect  of  the  creature  worshipers. 

IX.  Add  to  these  the  difficult  Arabic  language 
and  the  climate  unknown,  and   a  country  largely 
unexplored  in  modern  times,  and  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  first  missionaries  met  with  obstacles  which 
could  only  be  surmounted  by  strong  faith,  heroic 
courage,  and  patient  perseverance." 

Some  of  these  difficulties  arise  from  oriental 
character.  Many  of  them  lie  wholly  within  the 
so-called  Christian  bodies,  but  others  spring  from 
the  fact  that  these  bodies  are  and  have  been  for 
centuries  under  the  rule  of  a  Mohammedan  gov- 
ernment. On  this  account  and  to  the  extent  that 
the  missionaries  have  hope  of  influencing  Islam 


1 90  PRESBYTERIAN   FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

itself,  we  must  give  heed  to  the  real  character  of 
that  faith  and  the  sort  of  political  government 
which  it  produces.  On  the  unfavorable  side  it  is 
true  that  Islam  practically  divorces  morality  and 
religion,  that  it  is  fanatically  intolerant,  that  it  de- 
stroys the  family  through  polygamy  and  con- 
cubinage, that  it  degrades  woman,  that  it 
has  not  checked  immorality  of  the  bas- 
est kind,  or  falsehood,  and  that  it  is  not 
represented  by  one  clean,  respected  government. 
So  far  as  Turkey  is  concerned,  Syria  suffers  with 
the  rest  from  the  condition  which  Freeman  has  de- 
scribed :  "  The  rule  of  the  Turk  is  not  govern- 
ment ;  it  is  not  even  mis-government.  It  is  the 
mere  domination  of  a  gang  of  robbers."  '  And  a 
Turkish  officer  writes  in  The  Contemporary  Re- 
view, April,  1899,  "Simultaneously  with  the  ab- 
sorption of  power  by  the  Sultan,  the  administra- 
tion of  the  country  grew  worse  and  worse,  until  it 
is  what  it  is  to-day,  a  sickening  and  shameful  par- 
ody of  government. ' ' 

Both  as  religion  and  as  government  Mohammed- 
anism presses  bitterly  on  the  Christians  of  Tur- 
key. As  government  there  is  incessant  oppression. 
The  Turk  seems  to  be  mad  in  his  atrocious  taxa- 
tion, which  destroys  energy  and  paralyzes  ^prog- 
ress. The  spirit  of  his  religion  is  illustrated  by 
the  prayers  used  throughout  Turkey  and  daily  re- 
peated in  the  great  Mohammedan  University  in 
Cairo:  "  I  seek  refuge  with  Allah  from  Satan 
the  accursed.  In  the  name  of  Allah  the  Com- 
passionate, the  Merciful  !  O  Lord  of  all  Crea- 
tures !  O  Allah  !  Destroy  the  infidels  and  poly- 
theists,  thine  enemies,  the  enemies  of  the  reli- 
gion !  O  Allah  !  Make  their  children  orphans, 
and  defile  their  abodes  !  Cause  their  feet  to  slip ; 

1  Freeman,  History  and  Conquest  of  the  Saracens,  pref- 
ace to  second  edition,  p.  xii. 


THE    MISSION    IN    SYRIA  IQI 

give  them  and  their  families,  their  households  and 
their  women,  their  children  and  their  relations  by 
marriage,  their  brothers  and  their  friends,  their 
possessions  and  their  race,  their  wealth  and  their 
lands,  as  booty  to  the  Moslems,  O  Lord  of  all 
Creatures  !  "  l  And  the  union  of  Church  and 
State  in  Islam  makes  this  religious  hatred  effective 
in  legal  enforcement.  Thus  even  after  the  public 
execution  in  1853,  in  Adrianople,  of  a  young  Mo- 
hammedan, who  was  judicially  condemned  to 
death  for  no  other  crime  than  having  "  declared 
that  Christ  was  the  true  prophet,  and  that  having 
him  we  had  no  need  of  Mohammed,  who  there- 
fore was  a  false  prophet,"  and  who  exclaimed  with 
his  last  breath,  "I  profess  Jesus  Christ  and  for 
him  I  die,"  when  the  British  Government  pro- 
tested against  the  law  by  which  he  was  con- 
demned, and  declared,  "The  Christian  Powers 
will  not  endure  that  the  Porte  should  in- 
sult and  trample  on  their  faith  by  treating 
as  a  criminal  any  person  who  embraces 
it,"  a  memorandum  was  agreed  upon,  con- 
taining these  words:  "As  all  forms  of  religion 
are  and  shall  be  freely  professed  in  the  Ottoman 
Dominion,  no  subject  of  his  Majesty  the  Sultan, 
shall  be  hindered  in  the  free  exercise  of  the  re- 
ligion that  he  professes,  nor  shall  be  in  any  way 
annoyed  on  that  account.  None  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  change  their  religion;"  but  the  other 
and  objectionable  law  of  the  Koran  protested 
against  was  not  abolished,  because,  "  being  re- 
garded as  invested  with  divine  character,  it  could 
not  be  annulled  or  abrogated  by  any  human  au- 
thority whatsoever."  It  was  merely  held  in  abey- 
ance.2 And  the  story  of  Kamil3  and  many 

1  Green,  The  Armenian  Crisis  in  Tttrkey,  p.  75. 

2  Koelle,  Mohammed  and  Mohammedanism, -p.  474  f. 

3  Jessup,  Kamil. 


IQ2  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

other  stories  which  have  never  been  written  of  suf- 
fering and  oppression  tell  only  too  well  the  tale  of 
constant  and  cruel  opposition  by  Church  and  State 
alike. 

The  position  of  members  of  the  Christian 
churches  in  Turkey  has  been  only  one  degree  bet- 
ter than  the  position  of  the  apostate  from  Islam. 
From  the  beginning,  "  the  subjugated  Christians 
in  the  Mussulman  State  were  placed  under  the 
most  humiliating  and  irksome  disabilities.  They 
had  to  submit  to  Mohammedan  courts  of  law, 
where  their  testimony  was  not  received  against  a 
Moslem,  and  the  judge  considered  it  a  religious 
duty  to  favor  the  party  belonging  to  his  own  faith. 
In  social  life  they  had  to  defer  to  the  meanest 
Mussulman  as  their  superior  in  rank.  In  their 
mode  of  traveling,  in  their  dress,  in  their  dwell- 
ings, and  even  in  their  graves,  they  were  to  be 
marked  by  a  badge  of  inferiority.  For  the  main- 
tenance of  their  religious  institutions,  and  the  in- 
struction of  their  children,  they  received  no  help 
whatever  from  a  Government  whose  revenues  they 
had  to  swell.  Many  of  their  churches  were  de- 
molished or  converted  into  mosques,  and  those 
permitted  them  were  not  allowed  to  be  increased 
in  number  by  the  building  of  new  ones.  The  ex- 
ercise of  their  religion  was  deprived  of  its  public- 
ity, and  of  everything  which  might  have  appeared 
as  a  recognition  or  sanction  of  Christianity  by 
Government.  Hence  all  religious  processions  had 
to  be  discontinued,  the  church  bells  were  to  be 
destroyed  or  silenced,  and  all  the  crosses  removed 
from  the  tops  of  ecclesiastical  edifices,  or  any  other 
places,  where  they  might  have  offended  the  Moslem 
eye.  In  short,  the  Christian  communities  could 
not  become  organic  parts  of  a  Mohammedan 
State,  and  were  not  even  counted  worthy  to  bear 
arms  and  to  defend  the  common  country  on  an 


THE    MISSION    IN    SYRIA  193 

equal  footing  with  the  Moslems.  The  Christians 
were  treated  as  if  they  formed  a  mere  colony  of 
helots  within  the  State,  tolerated  and  protected 
by  the  ruling  class  and  for  their  benefit,  on  about 
the  same  principle  pn  which  domestic  animals  are 
kept  and  fostered  by  their  masters.  Accordingly, 
the  poll  tax,  collected  from  every  male  adult  of  the 
Christians,  was  designated  by  a  word  (jizyeh) 
properly  signifying  'ransom,  satisfaction,'  because 
it  was,  as  it  were,  generously  accepted  in  lieu  of 
their  lives,  which  in  the  eyes  of  Islam  had  legally 
been  forfeited.  The  land  tax  they  had  to  pay 
was  called  by  a  word  (kharaj^)  which  had  origi- 
nally been  employed  as  a  designation  of  that  por- 
tion of  a  slave's  earning  which  he  had  to  pay  to 
his  master  for  being  allowed  to  exercise  a  trade  on 
his  own  account.  So,  likewise,  the  term  Raya, 
ordinarily  applied  to  the  Christian  section  of  the 
population  under  a  Mohammedan  Government, 
has  its  meaning  thus  rendered  in  Lane's  well- 
known  Arabic-English  Lexicon,  '  Cattle  pasturing, 
cattle  kept,  tended  or  pastured ;  especially  cattle 
kept  or  pastured  for  the  Sultan,  and  upon  which 
are  his  brands  and  marks.'  "  l  And  yet  even  cat- 
tle are  better  cared  for  in  a  Christian  land  than 
the  Christian  peoples  of  Turkey  have  been  cared 
for  by  their  Sultan. 

The  history  of  the  Syria  Mission,  which  until 
1870,  was  one  of  the  missions  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions, 
may  be  divided  into  four  periods. 

First  Period,  1819-1840.  The  first  mission- 
aries were  Levi  Parsons  and  Pliny  Fisk.  They 
sailed  from  Boston  in  the  autumn  of  1819.  They 
wished  to  lead  the  Christians  of  Western  Asia  to 
lay  aside  their  superstitions  which  were  a  stum- 
bling-block to  Moslems,  and  to  make  them  co- 

1  Koelle,  Mohammed  and  Mohammedanism,  p.  474  f. 


194  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

workers  in  reaching  the  followers  of  Mohammed. 
Parsons  and  Fisk  went  first  to  Smyrna,  where 
they  found  friends  from  England  and  America 
and  some  English  missionaries.  One  of  their  first 
movements  after  learning  ttye  language  was  to 
visit  the  places  where  once  stood  and  flotn  i^hed 
the  Seven  Churches  of  Asia.  After  this  it  was 
decided  that  Mr.  Fisk  should  remain  at  Smyrna 
and  Mr.  Parsons  go  to  Jerusalem.  The  two 
brethren  went  on  board  the  vessel  which  was  to 
separate  them,  and  "there,"  the  story  quaintly 
says,  "they  sang  'Guide  me,  O  thou  great  Je- 
hovah,' united  in  prayer,  commended  each  other 
to  the  Divine  protection,  and  gave  the  parting 
hand."  Mr.  Parsons  met  with  great  kindness  at 
Joppa,  and  he  was  cordially  welcomed  in  Jerusa- 
lem by  Bishop  Procopius,  who  was  a  sort  of  vice- 
patriarch  and  president  of  all  the  Greek  convents 
or  monasteries  and  also  one  of  the  foreign  agents 
of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  On 
his  way  to  rejoin  Mr.  Fisk,  Mr.  Parsons  learned 
of  the  terrible  massacre  at  Scio  or  Chios  where 
the  Turks  deliberately  butchered  20,000  men  and 
women  and  little  children,  many  of  them  priests 
and  nuns  of  the  Greek  Church.  From  Smyrna 
Parsons  and  Fisk  went  to  Egypt,  where  it  was 
hoped  the  former  would  be  able  to  throw  off  a 
threatening  cough;  but  the  hope  was  disap- 
pointed, and  the  first  American  missionary  to 
Western  Asia  or  to  the  Mohammedan  world 
passed  away  in  Alexandria  on  February  loth, 
1822.  Shortly  before  he  passed  away,  he  wrote 
in  one  of  his  letters:  "It  seems  that  this  shat- 
tered frame  will  not  long  endure  so  great  weak- 
ness. With  brother  Fisk  I  talk  freely  of  finishing 
my  work  and  of  meeting  my  final  Judge,  the 
Lord  of  missions.  Heaven  looks  desirable — to 
obtain  the  perfect  image  of  God,  to  know  more 


THE   MISSION   IN    SYRIA  195 

of  the  existence  of  God  as  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost,  to  see  without  a  glass  the  exceeding  love 
displayed  on  the  cross,  to  observe  the  stations, 
orders,  and  employments,  of  angels,  to  know  how 
saints  are  employed  in  relation  to  this  and  to  other 
worlds,  to  see  how  God  overrules  sin,  and  why  it 
is  through  great  tribulation  that  he  brings  his 
children  to  glory, — in  a  word,  to  see  God  in  all 
his  attributes  and  his  angels  and  saints  in  all  their 
glory."  > 

Before  leaving  Egypt  Mr.  Bird  made  a  tour  of 
the  Nile  with  Jonas  King  and  Joseph  Wolff,  dis- 
tributing 800  copies  of  the  Scriptures  in  twelve 
languages,  and  2,000  tracts.  The  next  year, 
1823,  Mr.  Fisk  went  to  Jerusalem,  and  in  the 
following  year  was  joined  by  Jonas  King  and 
Isaac  Bird.  In  1824  Fisk  and  Bird  were  arrested 
at  the  instigation  of  the  Latins  for  distributing  the 
Scriptures,  which  the  accusers  declared  to  be  books 
neither  Mohammedan,  Jewish,  nor  Christian, 
"which  contain,"  said  the  judge,  "fabulous 
stories  that  are  profitable  for  nobody,  and  which 
nobody  of  sense  will  read;  "  and  flung  the  book, 
which  he  was  holding,  contemptuously  upon  the 
floor.  In  1825  Mr.  Fisk  reported  having  distrib- 
uted in  the  preceding  three  years,  4,000  copies 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  20,000  tracts.  That 
year  the  Pasha  of  Damascus  came  to  collect  his 
tribute,  and  the  city  and  country  were  thrown 
into  utter  confusion,  so  that  the  missionaries 
withdrew.  Jonas  King  went  to  Greece  soon 
after,  to  work  there.  Mr.  Bird  remained  in 
Beirut,  where  Mr.  Fisk  died  on  October  25th, 
1825. 

The  station  at  Jerusalem  was  suspended  for 
nearly  nine  years.  Later  efforts  to  reestablish  it 
were  not  successful,  and  it  was  finally  abandoned 
1  Bird,  Bible  Work  in  Bible  Lands,  p.  48. 


196  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN   MISSIONS 

in  1844.  Beirut  had  become  the  headquarters  of 
the  Mission.  Mr.  Goodell  who  had  come  out 
in  1823  had  been  there  alone  during  the 
winter  of  1824  and  1825,  and  was  reinforced  by 
the  return  of  the  Mission  from  Jerusalem.  Mr. 
Goodell  removed  to  Constantinople  in  1828. 
He  was  every  way  a  remarkable  man,  scholar, 
preacher,  counselor.  "Dr.  Hamlin  says  of  him 
that  he  had  substantially  Puritan  theology,  Puri- 
tan saintliness,  and  Puritan  patriotism,  and  his 
saintliness  was  adorned  by  the  most  sparkling 
cheerfulness.  His  wit  and  mirthfulness  were  a 
perpetual  sunshine.  When  his  friend  and  col- 
league, Father  Temple,  reproved  him,  saying, 
'  Brother  Goodell,  do  you  expect  to  enter  heaven 
laughing ?  '  'I  don't  expect  to  go  there  crying,' 
was  the  quick  reply.  His  sagacity  and  judgment 
were  remarkable,  and  it  was  owing  largely  to 
his  good  judgment  with  that  of  his  associates, 
Riggs,  Schauffler,  and  Dwight,  that  the  Earl  of 
Shaftesbury  said  in  1869,  '  I  do  not  believe  that 
in  the  whole  history  of  missions,  I  do  not  believe 
in  the  history  of  diplomacy,  or  in  the  history 
of  any  negotiations  carried  on  between  man 
and  man,  we  can  find  anything  equal  to  the 
wisdom,  the  soundness  and  the  pure  evangelical 
truth  of  the  body  of  men  who  constitute  this 
mission.' ' 

From  1825  to  1828  the  Mission  worked  on  at 
Beirut.  During  these  years  Protestantism  was 
unrecognized  by  the  Turkish  Government,  and 
"all  inquirers  after  the  truth  and  adherents  of 
the  new  faith  were  persecuted,  imprisoned,  and  in 
some  cases  put  to  death.  And  this  was  almost 
invariably  done  by  the  ecclesiastics  of  the  ori- 
ental churches,  who,  aided  by  the  diplomatic 
agents  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  governments, 
combined  to  incite  the  otherwise  apathetic  Turk- 


THE   MISSION    IN    SYRIA  197 

ish  rulers  against  the  defenseless  converts."  The 
first  day  of  January,  1827,  says  Mr.  Bird,  "was 
a  solemn  and  joyful  day.  It  was  the  day  of  the 
general  concert  of  prayer  for  the  spread  of  the 
gospel.  It  was  the  day  of  our  communion  season 
at  Beirut,  and,  what  was  more,  it  was  the  day  of 
the  ingathering  of  the  first  fruits  of  our  Syrian 
labors.  One  of  these  converts,  Asaad  esh 
Shidiak,  received  the  martyr's  crown.  He  was 
an  educated  young  Maronite  teacher  of  theology 
and  science  in  a  Lebanon  convent,  and  after- 
wards in  a  boys'  school  in  Beirut.  Converted  to 
Protestant  Christianity,  he  was  arrested,  impris- 
oned and  enchained  in  the  Patriarch's  monastery 
of  Kannobin  (Greek,  Koinon  Bion),  and  after- 
wards walled  in  and  starved  to  death,  his  body 
thrown  down  the  mountain  side  among  the  jagged 
rocks  in  1829  or  early  in  1830."  l 

On  account  of  the  disturbed  political  condition 
of  the  Levant,  it  seemed  best  for  the  missionaries 
to  retire  temporarily,  and  from  1828  to  1830  they 
worked  in  Malta.  In  1833,  after  returning  to 
Beirut,  they  removed  from  Malta  the  press  which 
had  been  established  there  in  1822,  and  which  at 
once  began  under  the  direction  of  Eli  Smith,  who 
had  joined  the  mission  in  1827,  its  great  career. 
Eli  Smith  spent  thirty  years  in  the  work  in  Beirut. 
"  He  was  familiar  with  the  ancient  Classics,  and 
with  French,  Italian,  German,  Turkish,  and 
Arabic.  He  superintended  the  cutting  and  cast- 
ing of  the  beautiful  fonts  of  Arabic  type  from  the 
most  perfect  models  of  Arabic  calligraphy,  col- 
lected the  philological  library  for  use  in  Bible 
translation,  and  prosecuted  the  work  of  transla- 
tion from  1849  until  his  death  in  June,  1857. 
He  had  put  into  Arabic  the  entire  New  Testa- 
ment, the  Pentateuch,  the  historical  books  of  the 
1  Bird,  Bible  Work  in  Bible  Lands,  p.  211. 


198  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Old  Testament,  and  the  books  of  Isaiah,  Jere- 
miah, Lamentations,  Hosea,  Joel,  Amos,  Obadiah, 
Jonah,  Micah,  and  Nahum."  His  ideal  of  per- 
fection was  so  high  that  it  was  difficult  for  him 
ever  to  be  satisfied  with  his  work.  Of  the  many 
other  great  names  associated  with  the  Mission 
during  this  period,  is  that  of  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Thom- 
son, who  wrote  The  Land  and  The  Book,  and 
who  loved  to  itinerate  through  the  country, 
preaching  to  the  people. 

From  1830  to  1840  Syria  was  held  by  Moham- 
med Ali,  Pasha  of  Egypt,  and  governed  by  his 
son  Ibrahim  Pasha.  They  proclaimed  religious 
liberty,  and  there  was  'remarkable  security 
throughout  the  country.  "  Village  schools  mul- 
tiplied, comprising  several  hundred  pupils.  Two 
hundred  and  thirty-three  Greek  churches  in 
Cyprus  were  supplied  with  Bibles.  The  Beirut 
Seminary  for  boys  opened  with  six  pupils  in  1833. 
In  1834,  Mrs.  Eli  Smith  opened  a  school  for  girls 
in  Beirut.  In  1836  a  chapel  was  opened  in  Bei- 
rut for  Arabic  preaching. 

Second  Period,  1840-1860.  This  period  be- 
gan with  the  expulsion  of  Ibrahim  Pasha  from 
Syria  by  the  allied  forces  of  Turkey  and  Great 
Britain  and  Austria  and  the  restoration  of  the 
country  to  Turkey.  Civil  wars  between  the 
Druzes  and  the  Maronites  in  1841  and  1845  made 
the  work  difficult,  but  it  continued  to  grow.  The 
Protestant  body  which  had  never  had  official  rec- 
ognition in  Turkey  before,  and  had  accordingly 
been  harassed  on  both  sides,  by  Moslems  and  by 
the  authorities  of  the  recognized  oriental 
churches,  now  received,  on  November  i5th, 
1847,  a  charter  of  rights  "guaranteeing  protec- 
tion to  the  Protestant  sect,  and  forbidding  all  in- 
terference in  their  temporal  or  spiritual  concerns 
on  the  part  of  the  Patriarch,  monks,  or  priests,  of 


THE   MISSION    IN    SYRIA  199 

other  sects.  This  charter,  being  simply  minis- 
terial in  its  character  and  authority,  and  not  hav- 
ing the  authority  of  the  Sultan,  was  liable  to  re- 
peal. Accordingly,  a  new  charter  was  granted 
to  the  Protestants  by  the  Sultan  Abdul  Majid,  in 
November,  1850,  appointing  a  Wakil  or  agent  to 
represent  them  at  the  Sublime  Porte,  and  pledg- 
ing them  full  protection  and  security  in  the  exer- 
cises of  the  usages  of  their  faith.  Prior  to  the 
granting  of  these  rights  in  1843,  there  was  a  Prot- 
estant movement  in  Hasbeiya,  on  the  north  side 
of  Mount  Hermon,  when  152  men  left  the  Greek 
Church.  Severe  persecutions  followed,  headed 
by  the  Russian  Consul  of  Damascus,  but  the  truth 
triumphed,  and  in  1851  an  Evangelical  Church 
was  organized,  which  continues  to  this  day." 
The  sort  of  Christians  of  which  this  little,  sorely 
tried  church  was  composed  is  shown  in  Dr. 
Thomson's  account  of  a  visit  to  one  of  them,  a 
vine  dresser,  who  lived  on  the  side  of  Mount  Her- 
mon. On  his  table  lay  the  Arabic  Bible,  Thomas 
a  Kempis,  and  a  little  book  of  prayer  and  one  on 
the  Holy  Spirit,  all  well  worn.  "It  was  good  to 
be  there,"  said  Dr.  Thomson,  "on  that  moun- 
tain side,  in  that  lodge  beneath  that  olive,  among 
those  clustering  vines,  with  that  old  man  of  hum- 
ble mien  and  tearful  eye,  the  voice  of  prayer  as- 
cending from  full  hearts  to  the  canopy  of  heaven 
above  our  heads.  Yes,  it  was  good  to  be  there. 
I  crept  forth  from  this  humble  lodge  with  eyes 
bedimmed  with  tears.  In  the  afternoon,"  con- 
tinued Dr.  Thomson,  "  as  the  old  man  was  com- 
ing to  our  preparatory  lecture,  I  met  him  upon 
the  stairs.  Seizing  my  hand,  he  said,  '  Ever 
since  you  left  me  this  morning  I  have  been  look- 
ing up  into  heaven,  and  I  see  nothing  there  but 
Christ,'  and  gazing  up  into  the  clear  blue  sky, 
with  a  voice  so  earnest  that  it  almost  frightened 


200  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

me,  he  repeated,  '  /  see  nothing  in  heaven  but 
Christ,  I  see  nothing  in  heaven  but  Christ  !  '  ' 

"The  first  Evangelical  Church  of  Syria  was 
organized  in  Beirut,  March  3151,  1848,  with  nine- 
teen members,  four  of  them  women.  In  1859 
there  were  four  churches  with  about  100  mem- 
bers, and  an  aggregate  attendance  of  550.  There 
were  thirty-two  schools  and  967  pupils,  176  of 
them  girls.  The  number  of  pages  printed  at  the 
press  in  1859  was  3,638,000.  Protestant  com- 
munities had  been  organized  in  sixteen  different 
centers,  from  Tyre  on  the  south  to  Hums  on  the 
north." 

"In  this  period  occurred  one  of  the  epochal 
events  in  the  history  of  Syria, — the  translation  of 
the  Bible  into  the  Arabic  language.  The  version 
hitherto  printed  and  circulated  by  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society  was  a  reprint  of  the  Roman 
Propaganda  edition  of  1671,  which  again  was  an 
ancient  translation  revised  by  a  Maronite  bishop 
of  Damascus  during  the  pontificate  of  Pope  Ur- 
ban the  eighth.  It  is  a  servile  imitation  of  the 
Vulgate,  and  neither  classical  nor  grammatical. 
A  new  version  was  imperatively  needed."  Dr. 
Eli  Smith  began  the  work  and  it  was  completed 
by  Dr.  C.  V.  A.  Van  Dyck,  and  issued  in  1865. 
Dr.  Van  Dyck  had  opened  a  boys'  school  in 
Abeih  in  1846,  of  which  Simeon  H.  Calhoun 
took  charge  in  1849,  and  which  the  latter  con- 
ducted until  he  left  Syria  in  1875.  "  Its  pupils 
were  for  years  the  most  noted  and  useful  teachers 
and  preachers  in  Syria,  Palestine,  and  even  in 
Egypt,  and  the  impulse  it  gave  to  intellectual  life 
was  the  inciting  cause  of  all  the  schools  of  the 
various  sects  and  societies  established  in  Syria. 
The  Syrian  Protestant  College  is  the  child  of 
Abeih  Seminary."  Of  the  missionaries  who 
1  Bird,  Bible  Work  in  Bible  Lands,  p.  378. 


THE    MISSION    IN    SYRIA  2OI 

joined  the  Mission  during  this  period,  Van  Dyck 
and  Calhoun  are  the  best  known.  "  The  former 
was  a  remarkable  man,  a  linguist  and  philologist, 
an  astronomer,  a  chemist,  an  eminent  physician, 
a  fascinating  teacher  and  an  acceptable  preacher 
— he  was  beloved  and  admired  by  Syrians  of  all 
sects  and  classes,  and  on  his  jubilee  year,  testi- 
monials were  presented  to  him  by  the  Syrians  one 
of  which  was  a  purse  of  two  thousand  dollars. 
He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.  D.  from 
the  University  of  Edinburgh.  His  Arabic  works 
were  about  twenty-five  in  number,  including  the 
crown  of  them  all — the  Arabic  Bible,"  in  which 
he  had  been  assisted  by  a  learned  Moslem  Mufti, 
a  graduate  of  the  Azhar  University  in  Cairo,  and 
the  proof  sheets  of  which  had  been  submitted  to 
Arabic  scholars  throughout  the  East  and  in  Ger- 
many. Simeon  Calhoun  was  the  "  Saint  of  Leb- 
anon." The  Druze  sheiks  hung  on  his  lips 
with  rapt  admiration,  and  had  he  died  in  Syria 
his  grave  would  have  become  a  sacred  shrine  of 
those  who  almost  worshiped  his  holy  character, 
his  political  sagacity  and  his  Christlike  simplicity. 
He  was  the  counselor  of  diplomats  and  governors  ; 
he  was  the  gentle  servant  of  Christ,  and  his  dying 
words  were,  "  If  the  Church  of  Christ  were  what 
she  ought  to  be,  twenty  years  would  not  pass  away 
before  the  story  of  the  Cross  were  uttered  in  the 
ears  of  every  creature."  Another  worker,  whose 
godly  life  and  Christian  enthusiasm  wrought  won- 
ders in  Zahleh  and  the  Bukaa,  was  Gerald  F. 
Dale,  whom  Dr.  Hodge  called,  "the  model 
scholar,  the  model  Christian,  and  the  model  gen- 
tleman, of  Princeton." 

Third  Period,  1860-1880.  This  period  began 
with  a  frightful  massacre  of  Maronites  and  Chris- 
tians. It  was  accomplished  through  a  civil  war 
between  the  Druzes  and  the  Maronites  in  the 


202  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

spring  of  1860,  "fomented  by  the  Turkish  Gov- 
ernment. The  war  soon  degenerated  into  a  mas- 
sacre, the  Turks  disarming  the  Christians,  and 
then  handing  them  over  to  the  Druzes  to  be  mas- 
sacred. Fifteen  thousand  Christians,  Greeks, 
Maronites,  and  Protestants,  were  killed.  Nearly 
20,000  refugees  crowded  the  gardens  of  Beirut, 
and  were  fed  and  clothed  largely  by  the  Anglo- 
American  and  German  Relief  Committee,  chiefly 
through  the  labors  of  the  American  missionaries. 
For  a  time  darkness  rested  on  the  land,  the  labor 
of  years  seemed  lost,  the  minds  of  the  oriental 
Christians  were  filled  with  despair  and  revenge, 
politics  excluded  all  thought  of  religion.  But 
order  soon  emerged  from  the  confusion.  A  fleet 
of  twenty-five  British  ships  occupied  Beirut  har- 
bor, and  6,000  French  troops  encamped  in  Beirut 
and  Lebanon,  on  behalf  of  the  European  powers ; 
and  with  the  consent  of  the  Sultan,  Mohammedan 
fanaticism  in  Damascus  received  a  permanent 
check.  Swift  punishment  fell  on  the  Pasha  and 
civil  and  military  officers  implicated  in  the  massa- 
cres, and  1 60  of  them  were  publicly  shot.  Hun- 
dreds were  exiled.  The  military  conscription 
was  enforced  for  the  first  time  on  the  Moslems  of 
Damascus.  A  new  Christian  government  was 
organized  in  Lebanon,  with  a  Latin  Christian 
Pasha  under  the  protection  of  the  European 
powers.  Under  this  new  regime,  feudal  and  ec- 
clesiastical power  was  broken.  There  was  a 
great  increase  of  foreign  Christian  interest  in 
Syria,  especially  in  America,  England  and  Ger- 
many. In  1862,  the  American  Female  Seminary 
was  reopened  in  Beirut.  In  1860  and  1861  the 
British  Syrian  Schools  and  Mission  were  founded 
by  Mrs.  Bowen  Thompson,  and  during  this  period 
up  to  1898,  they  had  not  less  than  4,000  girls 
under  instruction  in  Beirut,  Damascus,  Lebanon, 


THE   MISSION    IN    SYRIA  203 

and  the  Bukaa,  in  fifty-one  schools.  At  the  same 
time  the  Kaiserswerth  Institution  sent  deaconesses 
to  Beirut,  to  found  an  orphanage  and  boarding 
school,  and  to  furnish  nurses  for  the  new  hospital 
of  the  Knights  of  St.  John.  In  1865  the  college 
was  formally  opened  in  Beirut  with  sixteen  pupils, 
and  December  7th,  1871,  the  corner  stone  of  the 
new  building  at  Ras  Beirut  was  laid  by  the  Hon. 
Win.  E.  Dodge,  of  New  York.  In  1880  the 
number  of  pupils  had  risen  to  121,  sixty-four 
having  taken  the  degree  of  B.  A.,  and  fifty  that 
of  M.  D.  The  St.  John's  Hospital  of  the  Knights 
of  St.  John  of  Berlin,  was  founded  in  1860,  and 
the  professors  in  the  American  Medical  College 
are  its  physicians.  A  boarding  school  for  Mo- 
hammedan and  Druze  girls  was  founded  by  Miss 
Jessie  Tailor  in  1865,  and  also  a  boarding  school 
for  girls  in  Shemlan,  Mount  Lebanon,  by  Mrs. 
E.  H.  Watson.  In  1862  the  American  Girls' 
Boarding  School  in  Suk  El  Ghurb  was  transferred 
to  Sidon.  In  1875  a  boarding  school  for  girls 
was  opened  in  Tripoli,  Syria,  under  the  care  of 
the  Mission.  In  1877,  the  Mohammedan  So- 
ciety of  Benevolent  Intentions  opened  schools 
for  girls  in  Beirut,  Damascus,  Tripoli,  and  other 
places.  This  was  a  new  and  radical  departure 
forced  upon  the  sheiks  and  Ulema,  by  the  mul- 
tiplication of  Christian  girls'  schools,  and  the  de- 
termination of  Moslem  parents  to  have  their  girls 
educated.  It  began  a  new  era  in  the  history  of 
Islam  in  Syria." 

As  already  stated  it  was  in  1865  that  the  Arabic 
Bible,  so  long  in  translation,  was  issued  from  the 
press.  "  Its  completion  makes  this  period,  from 
1860  to  1880,  an  epoch  in  the  religious  history  of 
Asia  and  northern  Africa.  It  is  the  loving  gift 
of  the  one  hundred  and  forty  millions  of  Protes- 
tant Christians  to  the  two  hundred  millions  of 


204  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Mohammedans,  of  whom  sixty  millions  speak  the 
Arabic  language,  while  the  rest  use  the  Arabic 
Koran  as  their  sacred  book,  and  are  scattered  all 
the  way  from  the  Canary  Islands,  through  north 
Africa  and  southern  Asia  to  Peking  in  China. 
Since  then  the  printing  and  sale  of  the  Arabic 
Scriptures  has  steadily  increased,  the  largest  sales 
being  in  the  Valley  of  the  Nile,  from  Alexander 
to  Khartum.  The  word  of  God  is  on  sale  in 
Arabic,  in  Jerusalem  and  Damascus,  in  Alexan- 
dria and  in  Cairo,  in  Constantinople  and  Aleppo, 
in  Mosul  and  Bagdad,  in  Busrah  and  Muscat, 
in  Teheran  and  Tabriz,  in  Delhi  and  Agra,  in 
Calcutta  and  Bombay,  in  Shanghai  and  Canton, 
in  Batavia  and  Singapore  and  Peking,  in  Zanzibar 
and  Khartum,  in  Algiers  and  Tunis,  in  Liberia 
and  Sierra  Leone,  and  among  the  Syrian  colonies 
in  South  America  and  Australia." 

In  1870,  on  the  reunion  of  the  Old  School  and 
New  School  Churches,  and  the  withdrawal  of  the 
latter  from  association  with  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M., 
the  Syria  Mission  was  transferred  by  the  A.  B. 
C.  F.  M.  to  the  Presbyterian  Board,  the  majority 
of  the  members  of  the  Syria  Mission  being  Pres- 
byterians. The  churches  of  Syria  have  been  or- 
ganized into  three  presbyteries,  without  organic 
connection  with  any  synod  or  assembly  in  the 
United  States,  the  missionaries  retaining  their 
connection  with  their  presbyteries  in  America. 
The  only  work  which  the  Presbyterian  Church 
had  done  distinctively  in  Turkey,  had  been  in 
Smyrna  in  1836,  and  had  not  been  satisfactory. 

"  In  1869  the  Ottoman  Imperial  Press  and 
School  laws  were  promulgated.  By  these  laws  all 
schools  must  have  a  legal  permit,  and  the  manu- 
scripts of  all  books  to  be  printed  must  be  sub- 
mitted in  duplicate  for  approval  to  the  Mejlis  el 
Maarif  in  Constantinople.  In  May,  1869,  a  regu- 


THE   MISSION   IN   SYRIA  205 

lar  Theological  Seminary  was  opened  in  Abeih, 
and  Rev.  S.  H.  Calhoun,  D.  D.,  Rev.  W.  W. 
Eddy,  D.  D.,  and  Rev.  H.  H.  Jessup,  D.  D., 
were  appointed  instructors.  In  November,  1873, 
the  seminary  was  removed  to  Beirut,  and  owing 
to  the  resignation  of  Dr.  Calhoun,  in  view  of  his 
expected  departure  to  the  United  States,  Rev. 
James  S.  Dennis,  D.  D.,  was  appointed  in  his 
place.  In  May,  1875,  the  water  of  the  Dog 
River  was  introduced  into  Beirut  by  a  London 
Company,  and  has  proved  an  unspeakable  bless- 
ing to  its  thousands  of  people.  In  April,  1877, 
Russia  declared  war  against  Turkey,  owing  to 
the  Bulgarian  massacres.  One  result  of  the  war 
was  the  emigration  of  tens  of  thousands  of  Cir- 
cassians (who  had  fled  into  Bulgaria  from  the 
Caucasus)  into  Syria  and  southern  Asia  Minor, 
thus  adding  another  fanatical  tribe  to  the  already 
numerous  and  discordant  factions  of  Syria.  They 
are  a  brave,  hardy  and  industrious  race  of  Indo- 
European  stock,  using  European  methods  in  their 
farming,  but  the  most  intense  and  fanatical  of 
men  in  their  devotion  to  Mohammed  and  the 
Koran." 

Fourth  Period,  1880-1901.  This  period  was 
introduced  by  the  dedication  in  Beirut  of  a  beau- 
tiful Sunday-school  hall,  given  as  a  memorial  of  a 
little  American  boy,  namesake  of  the  missionary, 
Gerald  F.  Dale.  It  has  been  a  center  of  activity 
and  the  most  attractive  public  hall  in  Syria. 

"In  1888  there  were  15,000  children  in 
Protestant  schools  in  Syria,  of  whom  7,000  were 
girls  ;  the  number  cannot  now  be  less  than  18,000, 
and  the  whole  number  of  Protestants  enrolled  as 
a  civil  sect  is  about  6,000,  and  in  the  whole 
empire  it  cannot  be  less  than  75,000.  In  1887, 
in  the  enforcement  of  the  Press  Laws,  no  book 
was  allowed  to  be  sold  or  transported  by  sea  or 


206  PRESBYTERIAN   FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

land  without  the  Imperial  Stamp  of  approval. 
As  great  difficulties  were  raised  by  the  Constanti- 
nople authorities  with  regard  to  affixing  this 
stamp,  and  they  even  demanded  that  the  words 
'  for  Protestants  only  '  should  be  printed  on  the 
title  page  of  every  book,  the  Protestant  ambas- 
sadors intervened,  and  finally  the  objections  were 
withdrawn.  As  a  result,  the  Mejlis  El  Maarif,  or 
Board  of  Public  Instruction,  of  His  Imperial 
Majesty  the  Sultan,  the  Caliph  of  Mohammed, 
placed  the  seal  of  authorization  upon  thirty-three 
different  editions  of  the  Arabic  Scriptures  and 
parts  of  Scriptures.  The  local  board  in  Damas- 
cus also  approved  330  different  Arabic  publica- 
tions of  the  Press  in  Beirut.  The  number  of 
publications  on  the  Press  Catalogue  is  now  677, 
all  of  which  bear  the  Imperial  seal,  and  can  be 
sold  and  distributed  throughout  the  Turkish 
Empire.  The  American  Arabic  Press  established 
in  Malta  in  1822,  and  transferred  to  Beirut  in 
1834,  has  in  these  seventy-seven  years,  set  in 
motion  forces  that  have  awakened  the  popular 
mind  throughout  the  East.  Presses  have  multi- 
plied, newspapers  have  been  established,  a  genera- 
tion of  readers  has  been  trained,  and  the  East  will 
not  again  lapse  into  intellectual  slumber.  " 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Mission  in  1862,  it  was 
voted  to  establish  a  college  in  Beirut.  This  col- 
lege was  organized  under  a  separate  Board  of 
Trustees,  in  order  to  enlist  special  support,  though 
it  has  always  worked  in  closest  cooperation  with 
the  Board  of  Missions.  The  college  has  now 
nearly  five  hundred  students,  with  a  faculty  (in 
1889)  of  twenty-seven,  of  whom  sixteen  were 
Americans.  The  Rev.  Daniel  Bliss,  D.  D.,  has 
been  the  president  from  the  beginning.  The 
college  property  is  valued  at  $350,000.  It  has 
graduated  309  students  from  the  Preparatory  De- 


THE    MISSION    IN    SYRIA  207 

partment,  167  from  the  Collegiate,  163  from  the 
Medical,  and  fifty-three  in  Pharmacy.  The  major- 
ity of  these  are  in  Syria,  but  others  are  scattered  in 
the  United  States,  Brazil,  Argentine,  Australia, 
Johannesburg,  Berlin,  London,  Manchester, 
Cyprus,  Constantinople,  Smyrna,  and  the  Soudan. 
Dr.  Wm.  Thomson  was  the  one  who  thought  out 
the  scheme  of  the  college,  and  nominated  Dr. 
Bliss  for  its  president.' 

Since  1840  the  medical  work  of  the  Mission  has 
been  prominent.  In  1893  Dr.  Mary  Pierson 
Eddy,  daughter  of  Dr.  Eddy,  returned  to  Syria, 
and  was  the  first  woman  to  receive  the  sanction 
of  the  Turkish  Government  to  practice  medicine 
within  the  Empire. 

There  are  now  two  boys'  boarding  schools, 
one  in  Sidon,  where  about  100  boys  are  in  train- 
ing as  carpenters,  shoemakers,  tailors,  and  stone 
masons,  and  where  twenty  orphans  are  taught  prac- 
tical farming  on  the  school  farm  of  100  acres. 
The  other  school  is  in  Suk  el  Ghurb,  and  is  favor- 
ably located  for  reaching  the  Druzes.  Three 
girls'  boarding  schools  are  located  at  Beirut, 
Sidon,  and  Tripoli.  The  Beirut  pupils  come  from 
all  the  sects  of  the  land,  including  Moslems. 
The  Sidon  Seminary  is  for  Christian  girls  and  is 
conducted  on  the  Mt.  Holyoke  plan. 

"Twenty-eight  evangelical  churches  have  been 
organized  by  our  own  Mission,  and  not  less  than 
twenty  by  other  missions  in  Syria  and  Palestine. 
The  number  of  communicants  in  the  twenty-eight 
churches  is  about  2,400  and  in  these  missions  about 
2,000.  Great  as  are  the  defects  of  these  churches  in 
the  matter  of  self-support,  they  are  centers  of  evan- 
gelical truth  preached  in  its  gospel  simplicity,  and 
have  demonstrated  to  the  Moslems  that  Bible 
Christianity  is  neither  idolatrous  nor  immoral. 
There  are  four  ordained  native  pastors,  thirty-eight 


208  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

licensed  preachers,  136  teachers,  5  stations,  no 
out-stations,  28  churches,  and  2,400  members, 
about  equally  divided  between  men  and  women." 
All  this  has  been  a  great  work  done  by  splendid 
men  and  women.  But  its  ultimate  issues  are  not 
yet  understood.  They  reach  far  out  into  the 
future,  and  affect  Islam.  The  Press  and  the 
School  have  always  deeply  impressed  the  Moslem 
world.  The  preaching  of  the  gospel  is  to  do  the 
same.  Dr.  H.  H.  Jessup,  who  has  been  for  years 
one  of  the  pillars  of  the  Mission,  tells  of  having 
taken  into  the  Mission  church  at  Beirut  an  Arab 
sheik,  Mohammed  Smair,  who  looked  about  the 
plain,  unadorned  room,  and  then  at  the  Bible  on 
the  desk,  and  said  solemnly:  "Truly,  this  is  the 
house  of  God.  There  is  no  image  or  idol  here, 
only  the  house  of  God  and  the  Book  of  God.  " 
It  was  to  make  the  Moslems  feel  this  that  Fisk 
and  Parsons  left  America  to  found  the  Mission 
eighty  years  ago. 


THE  MISSIONS  IN  PERSIA 


209 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   MISSIONS    IN    PERSIA 

THERE  are  many  mission  fields  in  which  the 
Presbyterian  Church  works  side  by  side  with 
other  churches.  There  are  others  where  her 
missionaries  occupy  the  ground  practically  alone. 
Northern  Persia  is  one  of  these.  In  the  extreme 
southern  part  of  the  country  the  British  mission- 
aries of  the  Church  Missionary  Society  work  at 
Ispahan,  Kerman,  Yezd,  and  other  points.  But 
north  of  the  thirty-fourth  parallel  of  latitude  the 
field  is  ours,  and  practically  no  other  evangelical 
mission  is  at  work  in  it.  There  are  a  few  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries.  There  is  some  work  for 
Jews  in  Teheran.  A  ritualistic  Anglican  mission 
works  among  the  Nestorians,  and  there  are  two 
German  orphanages,  one  at  Urumia  and  one  at 
Khoi.  Perhaps  5,000,000  people  live  in  the  ter- 
ritory for  which  we  are  thus  responsible. 

And  the  religion  of  the  vast  majority  of  the 
people  is  the  hardest  religion  to  conquer  which 
Christianity  confronts.  Yet  the  Mohammedans 
of  Persia  are  in  many  ways  more  accessible  than 
the  Mohammedans  of  Turkey.  In  the  first  place, 
the  Church  and  the  State  are  not  identified  as 
they  are  in  Turkey.  The  Shah  and  his  officials 
are  intimidated  by  the  Moslem  ecclesiastics  and 
fear  to  offend  them,  but  there  is  sufficient  separa- 
tion of  Church  and  State  to  make  the  latter  more 
tolerant  and  the  former  less  capable  of  political 
persecution  than  in  Turkey.  In  the  second  place, 

211 


212  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

the  Persian  Mohammedans  are  regarded  by  other 
Moslems  as  heretics.  They  are  Sheahs,  while 
the  Turks  are  Sunnees,  the  Sheahs  holding  that 
Ali,  the  son-in-law  and  cousin  of  Mohammed 
should  have  been  his  heir  and  successor,  and 
that  his  descendants  should  have  retained  the 
Caliphate.  The  month  of  Moharrem  every  year 
is  given  up  to  lamentation  at  his  fate  and  the  fate 
of  his  sons,  and  to  keeping  alive  in  Sheah  breasts 
their  traditional  hatred  of  the  orthodox  wing  of 
Islam.  In  Persia  also,  the  Moslem  system  is 
broken  up  by  various  schisms.  Sufism,  a  mys- 
tical pantheism,  has  existed  for  centuries,  and 
affects  the  ideas  even  of  Moslems  who  would  not 
confess  that  they  were  tinged  by  it.  Omar 
Khayyam's  poetry  shows  how  fully  it  has  per- 
meated Persian  feeling : — 

"There  was  a  Door  to  which  I  found  no  Key ; 
There  was  a  Veil  past  which  I  could  not  see; 
Some  little  talk  awhile  of  ME  and  THEE 
There  seem'd — and  then  no  more  of  THEE  and  ME." 

The  great  Bab  heresy,  which  has  grown  up  within 
the  last  forty  years  and  which  has  led  off  thou- 
sands of  the  faithful,  is  another  of  the  many  evi- 
dences of  the  disintegration  of  Persian  Moham- 
medanism. 

The  people  of  Persia  are  polite  and  courteous, 
full  of  oriental  grace ;  and  though  often  bigoted 
and  fanatical,  are  as  a  rule  kindly  and  hospitable, 
save  where  religious  consistency  obliges  them  to 
despise  and  humiliate  Christians.  They  are  in- 
tellectually bright  and  imaginative,  fond  of  con- 
versation and  social  intercourse.  Poetry  is  one 
of  their  passions.  Minstrels  wander  about  the 
country,  and  in  the  villages  or  on  the  caravan 
trail  the  weird  music  of  the  people  is  constantly 
heard.  "  Modern  Persia  is  in  that  state  of  cul- 


THE   MISSIONS   IN    PERSIA  213 

ture  in  which  minstrel  poetry  is  the  passion  of  all 
classes,  and  quotations  from  the  classic  authors 
are  common  upon  the  lips  of  even  the  modest 
peasantry  and  shepherds."  But  the  people  can 
be  cruel  and  unjust ;  otherwise  their  government 
would  have  wholly  to  change  its  character.  And 
priest  and  people  are  full  of  superstition  and  ig- 
norance. Mr.  Bassett  tells  a  story  of  a  Mollah's 
reverence  for  the  Koran  which  is  illustrative  of 
the  spirit  of  the  whole  people.  "  One  day,"  the 
Mollah  told  Mr.  Bassett,  "  my  knife  was  stolen. 
I  did  not  know  who  had  taken  it,  but  I  determined 
to  try  and  find  out  the  thief.  I  wrote  a  verse  of 
the  Koran  on  three  strips  of  paper,  and  on  the 
back  of  each  strip  I  wrote  the  name  of  a  sus- 
pected person.  Then  I  made  three  little  balls  of 
clay,  and  put  one  strip  of  paper  on  each  ball.  I 
then  put  the  balls  in  a  basin  of  water.  They  all 
sank  at  once,  but  the  clay  of  one  soon  parted  and 
dissolved,  and  the  paper  which  I  had  put  in  it 
rose  to  the  top  of  the  water.  I  read  on  it  the 
name  of  the  suspected  person.  I  went  to  him  and 
accused  him  of  the  theft.  He  immediately  con- 
fessed, and  gave  up  my  knife.  Such  is  the  power 
of  the  Koran."  1 

If  more  tolerant  than  Turkey,  the  government 
is  still  very  weak  and  wretched.  During  the 
reign  of  Nasr  i  din  it  was  stronger,  and  made 
headway  against  the  power  of  the  ecclesiastics, 
but  the  present  Shah  has  a  feeble  hand,  although 
recently  he  has  seemed  to  display  greater  strength, 
as  in  the  introduction  of  Belgians  to  take  charge 
of  the  Customs.  The  government  is  an  absolute 
despotism,  and  the  common  people  are  only  serfs, 
taxed  beyond  endurance,  though  not  so  dishonestly 
as  in  Turkey.  The  government  is  marked  often  by 
that  cruelty  which  accompanies  absolutism.  There 
1  Bassett,  Persia,  Eastern  Mission,  p.  40. 


214  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

are  still  punishments  as  dreadful  as  the  one  re- 
corded by  Dr.  Perkins,  when  two  men  were  be- 
headed, their  bodies  split  in  two,  and  the  halves 
hung  over  the  gates  of  the  city.  The  village  peo- 
ple who  make  up  the  great  body  of  the  population, 
live  in  little  mud  houses  with  earth  roofs,  with 
an  oven  in  the  center  of  the  earth  floor  where  all 
the  baking  is  done  with  dried  manure  as  fuel. 
Little  grows  without  irrigation,  and  when  the 
waters  fail  famine  ensues,  and  the  poor  who  have 
laid  nothing  by,  die,  while  the  rich  who  hold  the 
grain  sell  at  high  prices  and  increase  their  hold 
upon  the  poor.  Of  one  of  the  frequent  famines 
in  Urumia,  Mr.  Wilson  says  that,  "the  majority 
of  the  population  were  without  food,  without  work 
and  without  anything  to  sell.  They  lived  on 
from  week  to  week  on  a  mere  handful  of  grain, 
with  a  little  meat,  herbs,  milk,  blood,  entrails  of 
animals,  anything  they  could  obtain  by  selling 
their  very  houses,  or  household  furniture  and 
clothes,  or  by  begging  and  stealing.  The  digging 
of  roots  and  herbs  in  the  field  was  the  occupation 
of  thousands  of  women.  One  thousand  people 
died  in  a  day  within  sight  of  the  mission  station. 
To  an  appeal  of  a  band  of  women,  begging  at 
his  door,  a  nobleman  was  reported  to  have  said, 
'  You  have  not  yet  eaten  your  own  children.'  "  l 
Where  the  water  is  abundant,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  country  is  green  and  fruitful,  and  the  gardens 
of  almond  and  fruit  trees,  the  rows  of  willows  and 
poplars,  the  vineyards  and  melon  yards,  are  fair 
and  beautiful. 

Modern  missionary  work  was  begun  in  Persia 
by  the  Roman  Catholic  monks  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  among  the  Armenians.  The  earliest 
Protestant  work  was  done  by  the  Moravians,  who 
came  in  1747  to  evangelize  the  fire  worshipers, 
1  Persia,  Western  Mission,  p.  292. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    PERSIA  215 

of  whom  there  are  now  about  5,000  left  in  Persia, 
though  fire  worshiping  was  once.the  established  re- 
ligion of  the  land.  In  181 1,  Henry  Martyn  passed 
through  Persia  and  spent  about  eleven  months  in 
Shiraz,  where  he  preached  Christ  boldly.  Though 
in  Persia  so  short  a  time,  and  already  enfeebled  by 
disease,  Martyn  completed  his  translation  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  he  stamped  his  influence  in- 
delibly on  some  hearts.  "Just  as  I  was  leaving 
Persia,"  said  Dr.  Perkins,  forty  years  ago,  "  I  fell 
in  with  a  Chaldean  bishop  about  seventy  years 
old,  in  the  district  of  Salmas,  with  whom  Martyn 
had  stopped  as  a  guest  for  a  week,  forty-seven 
years  before.  This  aged  man  is  the  only  Persian 
I  have  met  who  personally  recollected  Martyn. 
He  was  charmed  with  the  missionary,  pronounc- 
ing him  the  finest  Englishman  he  ever  saw ;  and 
his  remembrance  of  him  was  very  vivid  so  long 
afterwards.  He  spoke  of  him  as  social,  active  and 
inquisitive,  writing  from  morning  till  night,  yet 
always  ready  to  engage  in  conversation  with  all 
who  called — as  very  temperate,  eating  (  as  the 
bishop  figuratively  said)  an  egg  for  breakfast, 
and  dining  on  a  chicken  wing.  When  riding  out 
to  visit  antiquities  in  the  region,  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  propose  a  topic  for  discussion ;  for  in- 
stance, when  they  mounted  their  horses  one  day, 
Martyn  said  to  the  bishop,  '  Let  us  discuss  the 
question,  Was  darkness  created  ?  You  take  one 
side,  and  I  will  take  the  other,  and  see  what  we 
make  of  it ;  '  showing  Martyn's  taste  for  meta- 
physics, and  his  knowledge  of  the  Persian  tastes 
and  mind.  The  bishop  represented  him  as  small 
in  stature  and  frail  in  appearance.  There  must 
have  been  wonderful  power,  as  well  as  singular 
fascination,  in  Martyn  to  have  left  so  enduring 
and  grateful  an  impression  on  that  Persian."  1 
1  Perkins,  Missionary  Life  in  Persia,  p.  187. 


2l6  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Dr.  Perkins  himself  was  the  first  American 
missionary  to  settle  in  Persia.  In  1829  the 
American  Board  had  sent  Messrs.  Smith  and 
Dvvight  of  the  Mission  in  Turkey  to  explore 
northwestern  Persia.  Their  welcome  in  Moslem 
villages  was  very  different  from  the  welcome  mis- 
sionaries receive  now  that  the  people  know  and 
respect  them,  and  have  been  made  grateful  for 
the  medical  help  and  treatment  which  have  done 
more  than  anything  else  to  break  down  Moham- 
medan hatred.  "It  was  a  Moslem  village," 
writes  Mr.  Smith,  of  one  of  the  last  stopping 
places  as  they  neared  Tabriz,  "at  the  entrance 
of  a  pass  in  the  mountains,  which  conducts  to  the 
Lake  of  Urumia.  A  corner  of  a  miserable  stable 
was  the  first  lodging  place  that  offered,  and  the 
best  that  the  villagers  could  be  persuaded  to  give 
us.  Dirty  as  it  was,  I  was  never  so  glad  to  reach 
the  best  American  inn ;  nor  did  ever  a  fire  seem 
more  cheerful  than  the  burning  cow-dung  which 
was  blazing  here  when  we  entered.  I  remember 
no  more,  for  a  stupor,  which  had  been  gradually 
increasing  during  the  morning's  ride,  now  com- 
pletely overcame  me.  I  sank  upon  the  ground, 
and  remained  unconscious  of  what  passed  for 
two  days.  My  companion  could  not  obtain  from 
me  an  answer  to  the  simplest  questions,  nor  had  I 
the  strength  to  turn  in  bed,  if  that  name  may  be 
given  to  what  was  under  me.  It  was  a  cloak  and 
a  carpet  laid  upon  the  ground,  and  made,  at 
length,  somewhat  softer  by  the  addition  of  some 
coarse  weeds,  procured  with  difficulty  from  our 
Moslem  host.  The  stench  of  the  cattle,  which 
filled  our  stable  at  night,  polluted  the  air,  and  the 
lowing  of  the  calves  disturbed  us.  No  motives 
my  companion  could  use  were  sufficient  to  pro- 
cure another  room,  or  even  to  cause  the  cattle  to 
be  removed  from  this.  And  such  was  the  dread 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    PERSIA  217 

of  ceremonial  pollution  from  Christian  contact, 
that  the  slightest  conveniences  or  attentions  were 
denied  us,  or  given  with  the  greatest  reluctance. 
Our  food  even  had  to  be  cooked  in  our  own 
dishes,  by  our  own  servant."  l  Among  the  Nes- 
torians  their  reception  was  quite  different. 
"Hardly  had  we  dismounted,"  wrote  Mr.  Smith 
of  their  reception  at  Ada,  which  was  repeated 
elsewhere,  "  before  nearly  the  whole  village 
crowded  around  us.  They  followed  us  to 
our  room,  and  filled  it  almost  to  suffocation. 
Pleased  as  we  were  to  see  such  an  interest  excited 
by  our  arrival,  we  feared  it  would  seem  to  their 
rulers  like  a  tumultuous  rising,  and  would  gladly 
have  persuaded  many  of  them  to  retire.  But  our 
remonstrances  were  in  vain,  and  the  bishop,  when 
urged  to  exert  his  authority,  assured  us  that  the 
whole  was  but  the  overflowing  of  pure  love  to  us, 
and  we  must  bear  with  them.  They  listened  to 
our  conversation  until  late  at  night,  and  were 
finally  persuaded  to  retire  only  by  our  declaring 
that  we  were  going  to  bed."2  When  Messrs. 
Smith  and  Dvvight  had  examined  the  situation, 
they  reported  advising  the  establishment  of  a 
mission  to  the  Nestorians.  Mr.  Smith  said, 
"  For  myself,  I  felt  a  stronger  desire  to  settle 
among  them  at  once  as  a  missionary,  than  among 
any  people  I  have  seen,"  and  though  he  pointed 
out  that  it  would  be  a  lonely  position  with  no 
Europeans  near,  and  Constantinople  eleven  hun- 
dred miles  away  by  land,  and  Trebizond,  on  the 
Black  sea,  five  hundred,  and  very  dangerous,  yet 
he  added,  "We  must  not  calculate  too  closely 
the  chances  of  life,"  and  he  was  sure  that  the 


1  Researches  of  Smith  and  Dwight  in  Armenia,  Vol.  II., 
p.  140. 

2  Ibid,  p.  234  f. 


2l8  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

missionary  who  should  come  here  would  "feel 
the  advantage  of  his  position ;  that  he  has  found 
a  prop  upon  which  to  rest  the  lever  that  will  over- 
turn the  whole  system  of  Mohammedan  delusion, 
in  the  center  of  which  he  has  fixed  himself;  that 
he  is  lighting  a  fire  which  will  shine  out  upon  the 
corruptions  of  the  Persian  on  the  one  side,  and 
upon  the  barbarities  of  the  Kurd  on  the  other, 
until  all  shall  come  to  be  enlightened  by  its 
brightness ;  and  the  triumph  of  faith  will  crown 
his  labor  of  love."  l 

On  the  basis  of  this  report  the  Rev.  Justin 
Perkins,  a  tutor  in  Amherst  College,  with  his 
wife,  was  sent  out  in  1833,  and  in  1835  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Grant  joined  them  in  Tabriz,  and  the  party 
removed  to  Urumia  to  reside  among  the  Nes- 
torians.  "Our  arrival  to  reside  among  them," 
says  Dr.  Perkins,  "was  welcomed  with  the 
strongest  demonstrations  of  joy  by  all  classes  of 
that  people,  and  with  at  least  a  high  degree  of 
satisfaction  by  the  Mohammedan  population. 
The  Nestorians,  in  some  villages,  marched  out  in 
masses  to  meet  us,  with  their  rude  trumpets  and 
drums,  to  express  their  gladness  on  the  occasion, 
and  would  not  be  dissuaded  from  doing  so  by  our 
earnest  remonstrances. ' ' 2 

The  missionaries  were  instructed  to  have  as  their 
object  in  establishing  this  Mission :  "  (i)  To  con- 
vince the  people  that  they  came  among  them  with 
no  design  to  take  away  their  religious  privileges 
nor  to  subject  them  to  any  foreign  ecclesiastical 
power;  (2)  To  enable  the  Nestorian  Church, 
through  the  grace  of  God,  to  exert  a  commanding 
influence  in  the  spiritual  regeneration  of  Asia."  3 

1  Researches  of  Smith  and  Dwight  in  Armenia,  Vol.  II., 
p.  264  f. 

8  Missionary  Life  in  Persia,  p.  42. 
3  Historical  Sketches,  p.  250. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    PERSIA  219 

What  was  the  Nestorian  Church  ?  It  was  the 
branch  of  the  Christian  Church  which  followed 
Nestorius,  Bishop  of  Constantinople,  who  was  de- 
posed and  excommunicated  by  the  Council  of 
Ephesus,  in  431.  One  of  the  prominent  charges 
against  him  was  that  he  refused  to  apply  to  the 
Virgin  Mary  the  title  "Mother  of  God."  The 
people  do  not  call  themselves  Nestorians,  but 
Syrians,  and  their  language  is  Syriac.  Their 
chief  bishop,  who  resides  at  Kochannes,  in  the 
Kurdish  Mountains,  in  Turkey,  styles  himself 
"Patriarch  of  the  East."  They  were  once  a 
great  missionary  Church  carrying  the  gospel  far 
into  China,  but  for  twelve  centuries  they  have 
been  subject  to  Mohammedan  rulers,  and  their 
missionary  spirit  has  been  broken,  though  not 
their  loyalty  to  the  Christian  name.  In  the  six- 
teenth century  a  schism  divided  the  Church,  one 
section  submitting  to  a  Patriarch  residing  at  Mosul. 
This  section  is  known  as  Chaldeans,  and  a  large 
portion  of  it  has  conformed  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  Our  Mission  has  worked  almost  wholly 
among  the  Nestorians  subject  to  the  Patriarch  at 
Kochannes,  of  whom  there  are  perhaps  100,000, 
a  third  of  them  in  Persia  and  the  rest  in  Turkey, 
in  the  mountains  just  west  of  the  Urumia  plain. 

Though  Christians  in  name,  clinging  with  te- 
nacity to  the  forms  of  their  religion  and  reveren- 
cing the  Bible,  tolerating  no  images,  and  keeping 
at  least  some  of  the  commandments,  the  masses 
of  the  people  were  "very  ignorant,  degraded  and 
superstitious,  leaving  the  care  of  their  souls  for  the 
most  part  to  the  priests,  and  having  no  just  con- 
ception of  the  character  and  work  of  Jesus  Christ. 
They  look  upon  his  ministry  simply  as  that  of  a 
teacher,  and  see  in  his  tragic  death  only  a  mar- 
tyr's end."  l  The  missionaries  began  their  work 
1  Historical  Sketches,  p.  246. 


220  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

quietly  and  tactfully.  They  established  village 
schools  and  seminaries  for  training  young  men 
and  women  as  preachers  and  teachers ;  but  they 
"  had  not  expected  to  enter  their  churches  as 
clergymen  and  formally  preach  the  gospel,"  said 
Dr.  Perkins,  "  for  we  apprehended  that  the  native 
ecclesiastics,  much  as  they  rejoiced  in  our  more 
general  labors,  would  be  likely  to  regard  them- 
selves in  danger  of  being  undervalued  by  their 
people  in  their  clerical  capacity,  by  a  comparison 
with  the  missionaries,  and  so  take  offense  at  the 
measure,  were  we  to  assume  the  attitude  of  regular 
preachers  in  their  churches."  *  But  in  1840  they 
began  to  be  urged  by  the  most  influential  eccle- 
siastics to  go  into  the  churches  every  Sunday  and 
preach.  "  The  scene  was  more  interesting,"  said 
Dr.  Perkins,  "  than  can  possibly  be  conceived,  as 
we  took  our  places  in  those  venerable  churches,  a 
Nestorian  bishop  standing  usually  on  one  hand 
and  a  priest  on  the  other,  and  a  congregation  of 
both  sexes  and  all  ages  seated  on  their  mats,  on 
the  simple  earth  floor,  crowded  shoulder  to  shoul- 
der, and  listening  to  the  words  of  life  as  they  fell 
from  the  speaker's  lips,  with  an  eagerness  of 
countenance  that  would  almost  loose  the  tongues 
of  those  of  our  number  who  had  not  yet  learned 
the  language,  and  inspire  them  with  the  power  of 
utterance.  It  is  always  an  unspeakable  privilege 
to  preach  the  gospel  of  salvation,  but  especially 
under  such  circumstances."  2 

In  these  years,  1840—1850,  came  the  first  great 
revivals  among  the  Nestorians,  revivals  of  which 
Dr.  Perkins  could  say,  "They  have  reminded  me 
more  of  the  revivals  associated  with  the  labors  of 
Nettleton,  in  the  days  of  my  youth,  than  any 


1  Missionary  Life  in  Persia,  p.  76. 
9  Ibid,  p.  77. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    PERSIA  221 

others  I  have  witnessed."  1  It  was  in  one  of 
these  revivals  that  Deacon  Gewergis,  the  moun- 
tain evangelist,  was  converted.  He  was  a  noted 
thief  and  robber,  of  notorious  reputation  for  cour- 
age and  crime.  He  had  brought  his  two  daugh- 
ters down  to  Miss  Fiske's  seminary,  and  came 
over  to  visit  them  during  a  revival.  He  and  his 
companions  bristled  with  deadly  weapons,  and  at 
first  he  was  angry  at  the  sight  of  the  deep  convic- 
tion of  the  pupils;  but  some  words  from  Miss 
Fiske  went  like  an  arrow  to  his  heart,  and  a  con- 
version like  Paul's  wrought  a  like  transformation 
in  his  character,  and  he  spent  his  life  going  up 
and  down  the  Assyrian  Mountains,  with  which 
the  name  of  Samuel  A.  Rhea  will  always  be  con- 
nected,2 suffering  reviling,  abuse,  and  beating, 
dying  at  last  in  a  delirium,  crying,  "Free  grace  ! 
free  grace  !  free  grace  !  "  Of  one  of  these  re- 
vivals  in  the  young  men's  seminary,  Deacon 
Gewergis  wrote  to  a  friend:  "Glory  to  God, 
there  has  been  such  an  awakening  among  the 
boys  as  I  have  never  seen — a  lamentation,  a 
mourning  for  sins,  that  is  wonderful.  Many  of 
the  boys  prostrated  themselves  on  the  floor  to 
pray;  others  left  the  room;  and  there  rose  such 
a  sound  of  weeping  in  the  yard,  prayer  closets, 
and  elsewhere,  as  to  melt  our  hearts ;  and  this 
continued  until  midnight."  3 

As  years  went  on,  and  the  spirit  of  a  warm 
evangelical  Christianity  spread  through  the  Nes- 
torian  Church,  it  became  increasingly  difficult  to 
maintain  the  integrity  of  the  Old  Church.  The 
missionaries  had  hoped  to  reform  the  spirit  of  the 
Church  without  interfering  with  its  organization ; 
but  at  length  a  separation  came,  and  the  evangel  - 

1  Missionary  Life  in  Persia,  p.  119  f. 
8  See  his  life,  A  '1'ennesseean  in  Persia. 
3  Perkins,  Missionary  Life  in  Persia,  p.  156. 


222  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN   MISSIONS 

ical  element  broke  off  from  the  Old  Church,  and 
formed  an  evangelical  knooshya  or  synod,  with 
five  presbyteries,  three  in  Persia  and  two  in 
Turkey.  The  separation  was  unavoidable.  The 
Patriarch  became  hostile,  and  tried  to  destroy  the 
evangelical  work  in  the  Church.  In  1844  his 
brothers  issued  this  order  against  the  girls  of  Miss 
Fiske's  seminary:  "Be  it  known  to  you  all,  ye 
readers  at  Seir,  that  if  ye  do  not  come  to  us  to- 
morrow, we  will  excommunicate  you  from  our 
most  holy  Church ;  your  finger  nails  shall  be  torn 
out ;  we  will  hunt  you  from  village  to  village,  and 
kill  you  if  we  can."  The  converts  became  rest- 
less under  the  abuses  and  unscriptural  practices 
of  the  Church  which  they  could  not  reform.  They 
demanded  also  better  pastoral  care  and  instruction 
than  the  dead  language  in  use  in  the  churches 
and  the  old  rituals  allowed.  So  the  disruption 
came  quietly  and  naturally,  through  the  converts 
and  the  missionaries  uniting  in  the  Lord's  Supper. 
In  time  those  interested  in  the  reform  met,  and, 
in  1862,  held  the  first  conference  or  knooshya. 
Though  a  large  section  of  the  Church  broke  off 
in  this  way,  it  was  not  the  occasion  of  the  cessa- 
tion of  the  reform  within  the  Old  Church.  That 
has  continued  to  this  day,  and  the  missionaries 
still  preach  and  work  in  and  for  the  Old  Church 
as  well. 

There  are  some  who  disapprove  of  our  Ameri- 
can missions  to  the  oriental  Christian  churches 
because  they  have  in  this  way  established  separate 
reformed  organizations.  But  they  never  did  this 
until  forced  to  it,  and  until  in  some  cases  the 
evangelical  element  was  practically  excommuni- 
cated. It  may  be  suggested,  however,  that  there 
is  adequate  reason  for  the  organization  of  these 
powerful  churches,  in  the  fact  that  only  thus  can 
we  hope  to  commend  Christianity  to  the  Mo- 


THE   MISSIONS   IN    PERSIA  223 

hammedans,  who  have  despised  the  unreformed 
churches  for  their  impotence,  their  superstitions, 
their  gross  idolatrous  ritualism  and  practices.  As 
Sir  William  Muir  says  :  "  It  is  no  wonder  that 
Christianity  in  the  East  has  made  little  way,  but 
has  remained,  all  these  twelve  centuries,  passive 
and  helpless  under  its  oppressive  yoke.  And  so 
it  will  remain  with  any  effort  of  the  churches 
themselves,  and  not  less  of  those  who  would  work 
in  conjunction  with  them.  In  establishing  an 
Eastern  propaganda,  for  which  the  path  is  now 
being  thrown  so  marvelously  open,  it  would  be  a 
fatal  mistake  to  attempt  the  work  hand  in  hand 
with  the  unreformed  churches.  The  contempt  of 
centuries  would  attach  to  it.  The  attempt,  so  far 
as  concerns  its  influence  on  the  Moslem  world,  is 
doomed  to  failure.  Far  otherwise  is  it  with  such 
efforts  as  are  now  being  made  by  the  churches 
which  distinctively  call  themselves  'evangelical,' 
planted  in  Syria  and  adjoining  lands,  and  rapidly 
extending  there  in  numbers  and  in  influence. 
They  come  into  the  field  as  a  young  and  vigorous 
force,  which  at  once  socially,  politically,  and  spir- 
itually, command  from  the  Mohammedan  races 
surrounding  them,  inquiry  and  respect. ' ' 1 

Besides  the  direct  preaching  of  the  gospel  and 
the  medical  work,  the  school  and  the  press  have 
cooperated  to  secure  the  great  results  which  have 
been  accomplished  among  the  Nestorians.  The 
College  has  sent  out  scores  of  young  men  to  lift 
up  their  nation;  and  Fiske  Seminary,  named 
after  Fidelia  Fiske,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
missionaries  ever  sent  out  from  America,  has 
been  a  fountain  of  light  to  Persia  and  Turkey, 
sending  out  women  who  have  renovated  their 
villages  and  churches  and  homes.  The  press 
was  established  in  1840.  Among  the  first  pub- 
1  Sweet  First- Fruits,  p.  17  f. 


224  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN   MISSIONS 

lications  was  a  part  of  the  Bible.  "Some  of 
the  ablest  of  the  Nestorian  clergy  had  aided  in 
the  translation,  and  the  contents  of  their  rare  an- 
cient manuscripts  were  now  given  back  to  them 
in  a  language  which  all  could  understand.  They 
stood  in  mute  astonishment  and  rapture  to  see 
their  language  in  print ;  and  as  soon  as  they  could 
speak,  the  exclamation  was,  '  It  is  time  to  give 
glory  to  God,  since  printing  is  begun  among  our 
people.'  "  *  In  thousands  of  homes  there  have 
been  light  and  truth  because  of  these  schools  and 
this  press. 

When  the  missionary  first  went  to  the  Nestori- 
ans,  the  people,  as  Dr.  Perkins  said,  "  were  in  a 
night  of  deep  darkness.  Ground  down  to  the 
dust  by  their  Mohammedan  rulers  and  masters, 
toward  whom,  in  that  relation,  they  naturally 
cherished  a  bitter  hostility,  as  sore  oppressors, 
luxuriating  in  idleness  and  voluptuousness  on 
the  fruits  of  their  own  severe  and  ill-requited  toil, 
they  still  contracted  many  of  the  prevalent  vices 
of  those  hated  oppressors.  Falsehood,  among 
those  nominal  Christians,  also,  was  nearly  univer- 
sal. The  Sabbath  was  a  day  of  business,  trade, 
and  recreation,  and  almost  every  command  of  the 
Decalogue  was  habitually  violated  with  little  com- 
punction or  even  shame.  Indeed,  in  their  morals, 
the  Nestorians  were  nearly  on  a  level  with  the 
corrupt  Mohammedans  around  them.  .  .  .  The 
Nestorians  were  very  ignorant,  as  well  as  immoral, 
their  ignorance  doubtless  being  a  fruitful  cause 
of  their  immorality.  Not  a  female  among  them 
could  read,  except  the  sister  of  the  patriarch,  who 
being  regarded  as  belonging  to  a  higher  order  it 
was  deemed  befitting  that  she  should  possess  that 
peerless  accomplishment.  And  but  very  few  of  the 
men  could  read, — hardly  any  except  their  eccle- 
1  Historical  Sketches,  p.  257. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    PERSIA  225 

siastics, — and  most  of  them  being  merely  able 
to  chant  their  devotions  in  an  ancient  and  un- 
known tongue — the  Syriac.  They  had  no  printed 
books,  and  but  very  few  in  manuscript."1  In 
the  seventy  years  which  have  passed  since,  a  com- 
plete change  has  come  over  the  people.  Thou- 
sands have  been'converted  to  a  living  faith.  Ed- 
ucated priests  have  taken  the  place  of  ignorant 
priests.  Native  doctors  have  been  trained  in  mod- 
ern medical  science.  Hundreds  of  village  schools 
taught  by  the  graduates  of  the  College  and  Fiske 
Seminary  have  spread  enlightenment  through  the 
whole  nation.  Every  home  is  supplied  with  books 
and  the  Bible  in  modern  Syriac.  The  people 
have  a  secure  position  before  the  Moslems,  and 
all  the  Nestorians,  whether  Evangelical,  Old 
Church  or  Romanist,  perceive  and  acknowledge 
their  unmeasured  obligation  to  the  "  Mission  to 
the  Nestorians." 

From  the  beginning,  the  relation  of  the  Mis- 
sion to  the  Mohammedans  and  other  peoples  of 
Persia  had  been  kept  in  view,  and  in  1869,  its 
name  was  changed  to  "The  Mission  to  Persia." 
In  1871,  at  the  time  of  the  Reunion  of  the  Old 
and  New  Schools,  the  Persia  Mission  was  trans- 
ferred by  the  American  Board  to  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  with  the  Syria  Mission,  and  at  once 
plans  for  enlargement  were  made.  "  It  was 
felt  to  be  a  duty  to  embrace  within  their  work 
the  Armenians  and  Moslems  of  Central  Persia. 
Accordingly  Rev.  James  Bassett,  who  had  reached 
Urumia  in  1871,  made  an  extended  tour  the  fol- 
lowing year,  visiting  Tabriz,  Hamadan,  and  Te- 
heran, the  result  of  which  was  that  in  Novem- 
ber, 1872,  he  was  sent  to  occupy  the  capital  city 
of  Teheran,  where  he  was  warmly  welcomed  by 
both  Mussulmans  and  Armenians.  Here  is  a 
1  Missionary  Life  in  Persia,  pp.  104-106. 


226  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

population  of  200,000,  most  of  whom  are  Mos- 
lems ;  but  there  are  1,000  Armenians,  5,000  Jews 
and  several  hundred  Europeans."1  "  We  occupy," 
wrote  Mr.  Bassett,  "the  only  tenable  ground  for 
labor  designed  to  reach  either  Eastern  Persia  or 
the  Tartar  tribes  of  Turkestan.  The  Turkish 
language  spoken  here  enables  a  person  to  pass 
quite  through  Turkestan  to  the  birthplace  of 
Tamerlane  and  Genghis  Khan,  into  Chinese 
Tartary  and  far  to  the  north  ward, -while  the  Per- 
sian makes  accessible  all  central  and  southern 
Persia,  through  Khorassan,  to  Afghanistan,  and 
even  large  populations  of  India.  Central  Asia 
has  in  nearly  all  the  past  been  neglected  by  the 
Church  of  Christ ;  the  result  has  been  that  it  is 
the  great  source  whence  have  proceeded  the 
scourges  of  mankind  ;  and  the  Tartar  and  Iran- 
ian hordes  have,  age  after  age,  as  in  great  tidal 
waves,  quite  overflowed  Christendom,  overthrow- 
ing its  civilization  and  nearly  extinguishing  its 
light."2 

The  Rev.  J.  L.  Potter,  D.  D.,  soon  joined  Mr. 
Bassett,  and  in  1876  the  Evangelical  Church  of 
Teheran  was  organized,  of  eleven  Armenians  and 
one  converted  Moslem.  In  1879  and  1880  great 
interest  was  manifested  by  Mohammedans.  "So 
numerous  and  prolonged  were  the  calls  upon  the 
missionary,"  says  Dr.  Potter,  "  that  it  was  some- 
times difficult  for  him  to  find  time  for  his  meals." 
The  Persian  Government  was  alarmed  and  notified 
the  missionaries  through  the  British  minister  that 
they  would  not  be  allowed  to  remain  if  they  con- 
tinued such  work.  In  consequence,  the  Mission 
discontinued  meetings  for  Moslems,  but  they  soon 
began  to  come  to  the  public  services  of  the  Mis- 
sion, so  that  these  services  in  the  Mission  chapel 

1  Historical  Sketches,  p.  263. 
*  Ibid. 


THE   MISSIONS   IN    PERSIA  227 

had  to  be  discontinued  until  1882,  when  the  Shah 
so  far  relented  as  to  consent  practically  to  the  at- 
tendance of  Moslems  at  the  chapel,  while  he 
warned  them  against  apostasy.  At  the  Friday 
meetings  now,  groups  of  white-turbaned  Moham- 
medan priests  are  often  seen,  and  they  come  to 
the  missionaries  for  personal  conversation.  Tehe- 
ran is  so  large  a  city  that  men  are  under  less  sur- 
veillance than  in  the  villages,  and  are  less  cau- 
tious about  manifesting  interest  in  Christianity. 
The  government  has  grown  much  more  friendly 
as  years  have  passed.  At  times  the  majority  of 
boys  in  the  Teheran  Boys'  School  are  Moslems, 
many  of  them  sons  of  officials ;  and  in  1890,  the 
Shah  himself  visited  the  Mission  premises,  and 
so  gave  a  sort  of  imperial  sanction  to  the  work. 
Dr.  Potter  describes  this  event :  "One  morn- 
ing word  reached  us  of  the  intention  of  His  Im- 
perial Majesty.  Immediately  all  was  excite- 
ment, and  we  began  to  put  the  place  in  readiness 
for  so  great  an  honor.  His  Majesty  was  met 
at  the  outer  gate  by  the  male  missionaries.  The 
pupils  of  the  boys'  school  were  drawn  up  in  line 
on  either  side  of  the  avenue  leading  in  from  the 
gate,  and  as  the  august  visitor  advanced  they 
strewed  flowers  in  his  pathway.  He  first  pro- 
ceeded to  the  residence  nearest  the  gate, 
where  refreshments  were  served,  and  a  little  ex- 
perimental telephone,  which  had  been  set  up  be- 
tween two  residences,  was  shown  him,  one  of  the 
missionaries  running  over  to  the  other  house  to 
speak  with  him  over  the  wire.  Next  he  ad- 
vanced to  the  court  of  the  boys'  school,  where 
the  boys  were  again  drawn  up  in  line.  Here  an 
address  of  welcome  prepared  by  the  Persian 
teacher  in  flowing  language  was  read  by  one  of 
the  boys.  His  Majesty,  however,  did  not  enter 
this  building,  but  went  over  to  the  girls'  school, 


228  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

and  with  a  number  of  his  ministers  he  entered 
the  beautiful  schoolroom.  After  saluting  his 
picture  hanging  on  the  wall,  he  sat  down.  He 
desired  one  of  the  girls  to  write  on  the  black- 
board, but  she  being  very  much  embarrassed,  the 
Shah  himself  proceeded  to  the  board,  and  taking 
the  chalk  in  hand  wrote,  both  in  Persian  and  in 
French,  '  Hake em-al- Mamalek,' — The  Physi- 
cian of  the  Kingdom.  This  has  since  been 
framed  with  a  glass  over  it,  and  there  the  '  blessed 
handwriting  '  remains  until  this  day.  A  hymn  in 
Persian  was  sung  by  the  school,  and  his  Majesty 
proceeded  through  the  hallway  to  the  dining 
room,  where  he  seemed  greatly  impressed  with 
the  scrupulous  neatness  of  the  place,  for  he  ex- 
claimed :  '  Timeey,  timeey ' — clean,  clean.  Next 
he  proceeded  to  the  corner  of  the  property  where 
the  work  of  drilling  the  artesian  well  was  in  oper- 
ation, and  the  various  processes  were  explained  to 
him.  He  was  here  served  with  coffee  in  his  own 
golden  cups,  and  then  took  his  leave  without  en- 
tering the  Mission  chapel,  which  stands  conspic- 
uously in  the  center  of  the  grounds,  and  around 
which  he  had  made  a  complete  circuit." 

The  third  station  to  be  established  in  Persia 
was  Tabriz,  about  140  miles  from  Urumia,  and 
northeast  of  Urumia  Lake.  The  city  had  been 
often  visited  by  missionaries,  but  the  first  to  take 
up  permanent  residence  were  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Easton  and  Miss  Jewett.  The  foundations  of  the 
work,  as  in  Teheran,  were  laid  among  the  Ar- 
menians. Perhaps  for  this  purpose  these  little 
bodies  of  Christians  have  been  preserved  in  this 
Moslem  land,  where  without  them  for  a  base  of 
work  Christian  missions  would  find  their  position 
almost  impossible.  The  Armenians  in  Persia 
number  less  than  seventy  thousand.  Their  race 
is  one  of  the  oldest  in  Western  Asia,  and  was  one 


THE   MISSIONS   IN   PERSIA  229 

of  the  first  to  embrace  Christianity.  The  people 
are  quiet,  with  bright  minds,  skillful  in  trades, 
and  they  are  the  shrewdest  merchants  in  the 
country.  They  have  progressed  greatly  during 
the  century,  having  favored  education,  and  spent 
their  money  very  generously  on  schools.  But 
they  are  a  conceited  people  and  the  religious  ones 
are  superstitious,  and  the  irreligious  tinctured 
with  French  infidelity.  Their  racial  patriotism 
binds  them  to  the  Gregorian  Church  and  has 
filled  them  with  nationalistic  dreams  which  are 
not  likely  ever  to  be  realized  and  which  have 
taken  the  place  of  religion  with  the  young  men. 
They  have  shown  themselves  in  some  of  their 
relations  to  the  missions  almost  devoid  of  the 
grace  of  gratitude.  In  Hamadan,  the  Armenians 
have  been  less  touched  by  the  nationalistic  move- 
ment and  the  quasi-civilization  of  Tabriz  and 
Teheran,  and  are  more  like  the  simple  and  in- 
genuous Nestorians.  The  Patriarch  of  the  Gre- 
gorian Church  lives  at  Echmiadzen  in  the  Cau- 
casus. The  Church  holds  to  the  seven  sacraments 
of  the  Roman  Church,  and  believes  in  the  media- 
tion of  saints,  the  adoration  of  images,  and  tran- 
substantiation. 

Apart  from  the  difficulties  both  in  educational 
and  evangelistic  work  which  the  Tabriz  station 
has  encountered  among  the  Armenians,  there  has 
been  more  opposition  here  from  Mohammedans 
than  at  any  other  point.  In  1874,  the  Armenian 
priests  stirred  up  the  Moslem  mujtahids,  or 
ecclesiastics,  and  a  number  of  Moslems  attending 
the  services  on  Sunday  were  seized  and  beaten, 
one  of  them  to  death.  In  consequence,  more 
Moslems  than  ever  came  to  hear  the  missionaries, 
and  to  learn  what  it  was  that  so  offended  the 
priests.  In  1885  again  fanaticism  broke  out,  and 
the  city  was  in  an  uproar  against  a  Moslem, 


230  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Mirza  All,  who  proclaimed  belief  in  Christianity, 
and  who  had  to  flee  from  the  country.  In  1892 
the  government  without  any  notification  locked 
up  the  doors  of  the  church  and  school,  and  put 
red  sealing  wax  over  the  keyholes.  When  at 
last  an  explanation  could  be  obtained,  the  reasons 
assigned  for  sealing  up  the  buildings  were,  "lack 
of  proper  permission  to  build  the  church,  having 
the  Ten  Commandments  written  in  the  interior  of 
the  church  in  a  Mohammedan  language  and  in 
the  sacred  blue  color,  having  a  water  tank  under 
the  church  in  which  to  baptize  converts,  having  a 
tower  in  which  we  intended  to  put  a  bell,  baptis- 
ing Mussulmans,  of  whom  Mirza  Ibrahim  was 
now  in  prison,  receiving  Mussulman  boys  into 
our  school  and  women  to  the  church,  having 
Dr.  Bradford's  dispensary  near  the  church."1 
After  explanations  and  a  long  delay,  the  seals 
were  removed,  the  government  issuing  the  follow- 
ing order  to  the  missionaries:  "That  we  must 
not  receive  Mussulman  women  and  children  to 
our  schools  or  church,  that  we  must  not  take 
photographs  of  Mussulman  women,  that  we  must 
not  conduct  ourselves  contrary  to  custom." 
Since  then  the  work  has  not  been  stopped,  and 
the  boarding  schools  for  boys  and  girls,  the 
church,  the  medical  work,  and  the  itinerating 
work  which  the  Tabriz  station  has  done  far  and 
wide,  have  scattered  the  gospel  through  thou- 
sands of  homes  and  scores  of  villages. 

The  fourth  station  in  Persia  was  established  at 
Hamadan  in  1881,  by  the  removal  thither  of  the 
Rev.  James  W.  Hawkes.  Hamadan  is  identified 
as  Ecbatana  (Ezra  4 :  2),  the  place  where  Darius 
found  the  roll  with  the  decree  of  Cyrus  for  re- 
building the  temple.  An  old  domed  brick  build- 

1  Wilson,  Persia  :    Western  Mission,  p.  189. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  191. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    PERSIA  231 

ing  is  said  to  be  the  tomb  of  Mordecai  and 
Esther.  There  are  about  4,000  Jews  in  Hamadan 
now,  and  one  of  the  two  churches  established 
there  is  composed  of  Jewish  and  Moslem  converts. 
The  poor  Jews  have  suffered  as  even  the  Chris- 
tians have  not  under  Islam,  and  frequent  riots 
in  Hamadan  have  the  Jews  for  their  victims.  Mr. 
Wilson  describes  one  of  these  in  1892,  when  the 
Mussulmans  charged  the  Jews  with  being  the 
cause  of  the  cholera.  Some  were  seized  and 
beaten,  and  the  Mollahs,  who  led  the  people,  "  in 
order  to  disgrace  them  and  restrict  their  liberty 
commanded  that  the  Jew  should  wear  a  cloak  of 
two  colors,  should  have  a  badge  of  red  on  his 
coat  to  indicate  his  race,  should  not  come  out  on 
a  rainy  day  ;  if  while  riding  he  met  a  Mussulman, 
he  should  dismount  until  the  latter  passed ;  that 
the  Jewish  women  should  wear  black  veils;  that 
the  houses  of  the  Jews  should  not  be  higher  than 
those  of  their  Mussulman  neighbors ;  that  Mus- 
sulmans should  not  barter  with  Jews  nor  call  their 
doctors."1  This  is  the  spirit  of  their  treatment 
throughout  Persia.  "  Despised  and  persecuted," 
as  Mr.  Cohen,  of  Bagdad,  wrote  of  his  own  race, 
"they  are  unable  to  command  respect  or  to 
arouse  feelings  of  humanity  in  the  breasts  of 
their  oppressors.  They  passively  submit  to  the 
vilest  insults,  while  petty  acts  of  persecution 
gradually  become  habitual.  A  Mussulman 
child  may  with  impunity  pull  a  Jew's  beard  and 
spit  in  his  face.  The  word  '  Jew  '  is  considered  a 
term  of  disgrace  and  is  never  used  by  the  Persian 
without  an  apology  for  giving  it  utterance."  : 

The  Mohammedans  of  the  Hamadan  field  are 
much  more  accessible  than  those  of  the  province 
of  Azerbijan,  in  which  Urumia  and  Tabriz  are 

1  Persia  :    Western  Mission,  p.  239  f. 
8  Ibid.,  p.  242. 


232  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

situated,  and  their  children  are  sent  both  to  the 
Faith  Hubbard  School  for  girls,  and  to  the  boys' 
school.  And  there  are  multitudes  of  them  to  be 
reached.  In  the  Hamadan  field  are  eight  cities 
with  populations  from  10,000  to  60,000,  and 
scores  of  plains  dotted  with  villages.  In  one 
small  plain  in  which  we  thought  there  would  be 
about  fifteen  villages,  we  found  when  we  had 
ridden  through  it  that  there  were  fifty-one.  How 
can  the  little  company  at  Hamadan  give  the 
gospel  to  so  large  a  multitude  ? 

Two  other  stations  at  one  time  occupied  by 
missionaries  have  been  given  up.  Salmas,  estab- 
lished in  1884,  is  now  absorbed  in  the  Tabriz 
field,  and  the  work  carried  on  by  itineration  ;  and 
Mos^il  in  Turkey,  occupied  by  the  American 
Board  in  1841,  and  transferred  in  1892  to  the 
Presbyterian  Board,  is  now  transferred  to  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  of  Great  Britain, 
while  the  work  among  the  mountain  Nestorians, 
which  was  in  part  connected  with  it  and  in  part 
with  Urumia,  is  now  carried  on  exclusively  from 
the  latter. 

One  of  the  most  powerful  agencies  of  the  work 
in  Persia  is  medical  missions.  No  one  can  know 
the  full  power  of  a  consecrated  medical  mission- 
ary until  he  has  seen  what  it  has  accomplished  in 
a  Mohammedan  land.  A  volume  could  be  writ- 
ten of  the  work  of  each  of  the  medical  mission- 
aries, and  of  the  hospitals  in  Urumia,  Teheran, 
and  Tabriz.  Dr.  Cochran  saved  Urumia  in  1880 
from  capture  by  Sheik  Abidullah  and  his  Kurds, 
through  the  influence  he  had  acquired  over  them 
by  his  kindness  and  skill.  In  Tabriz,  Dr.  Holmes 
so  commended  the  religion  of  Jesus  that  even  an 
infidel  was  heard  to  remark,  "  If  there  is  a  heaven, 
Dr.  Holmes  will  go  to  it."  When  the  late  Shah 
was  shot,  Dr.  Wishard  was  called  to  see  him.  Dr. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    PERSIA  233 

Vanneman  was  the  only  man  the  new  Shah  could 
trust  to  bring  his  family  to  Teheran,  and  Dr. 
Holmes  was  at  once  summoned  to  become  his 
personal  physician,  and  could  only  with  difficulty 
avoid  obeying.  Such  instances  as  this,  told  of 
the  Urumia  hospital,  could  be  multiplied  a  hun- 
dredfold :  "  The  Mohammedan  ruler  of  a  farming 
village  had  been  bitterly  opposed  to  having  any 
Christian  work  done  among  his  tenants,  even 
among  his  nominally  Christian  subjects.  The 
missionaries  sent  a  preacher  to  his  village.  The 
ruler  ordered  him  away  ;  that  not  availing,  he 
ordered  the  preacher's  goods  and  furniture  to  be 
put  out  of  the  house  into  the  street.  Later  the 
ruler's  son  was  sick.  He  needed  to  have  an  op- 
eration performed,  for  which  he  must  be  taken  to 
the  hospital.  The  father  accompanied  him  and 
afterwards  kept  visiting  the  hospital,  occasionally 
spending  a  night,  thus  keeping  well  acquainted 
with  all  that  was  done  for  his  son.  He  watched 
the  workings  of  the  establishment.  When  well ' 
enough  the  son  was  sent  home,  and  later  the 
father  called  for  a  Christian  preacher  in  his  vil- 
lage, and  attended  service  himself,  carrying  his 
own  Persian  Bible,  a  translation  made  by  Henry 
Martyn,  often  comparing  passages  and  asking 
questions  and  discussing  the  Christian  faith. 
This  course  excited  comment.  Mohammedans 
asked,  '  What  does  this  mean  ?  Recently  you 
drove  the  preacher  from  your  village,  and  now 
you  are  attending  services  and  reading  the  Bible.' 
'Well,'  replied  the  ruler,  'I  will  tell  you.  I 
did  not  know  these  people.  My  son  was  sick, 
and  I  sent  him  to  their  hospital,  and  I  got  ac- 
quainted with  the  missionaries,  and  I  know  they 
are  good  people,  and  I  wish  their  teachers,  and  I 
am  going  to  have  them.'  "  1 

1  Wilson,  Persia  :    Western  Mission,  p.  280  f. 


234  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

The  Mohammedan  is  always  surprised  also  at 
the  Christian  view  and  treatment  of  women.  A 
Tabriz  Mollah  declared  in  a  discourse  in  a 
mosque  :  "  They  tell  us  there  are  dragons  and 
scorpions  in  hell.  My  two  wives,  with  their 
jealousies,  quarrelings,  their  demands  for  dress, 
etc.,  give  me  no  peace.  I  could  well  leave  them 
for  other  torments."  l  And  Miss  Jewett  says :  "I 
have  had  women,  after  hearing  that  wife-beating 
is  not  allowed  in  my  country,  ask  in  surprise, 
'  Why,  how  do  your  men  make  their  wives  mind 
them  ?  '  The  mother-in-law,  too,  may  beat  and 
abuse  her  daughter-in-law.  Ordinarily  there  is 
little  love  in  the  family.  A  woman  said  to  me 
once  :  '  Oh,  yes,  I  love  my  husband,  I  love  him 
as  much  as  a  sieve  holds  water.'  "  '*  The  Persian 
proverb  is,  "A  man's  worst  enemy  is  his  wife." 
It  is  not  strange  that  a  Persian  woman  watching 
a  missionary  and  his  wife  together,  and  noticing 
their  loving  ways,  should  say:  "  Your  Prophet  did 
well  for  your  women  ;  ours  did  not.  I  shall  have 
words  with  our  prophet  when  I  meet  him  in  the 
next  world." 

But  Islam  is  cruel  to  others  than  women.  It  is 
murderous  toward  apostates.  How  hard  the 
work  of  the  missionaries  in  Persia  is,  and  how 
hard  the  lot  of  any  Moslem  who  turns  to  the  true 
Prophet,  is  shown  by  the  story  of  Mirza  Ibrahim. 
He  was  a  Mohammedan  of  Khoi  who  found 
peace'  in  Christ  for  his  troubled  heart,  and  was 
publicly  baptized,  in  1890.  The  Mollahs  reasoned 
with  him,  and  tried  to  bribe  him.  His  wife  and 
children  left  him,  and  took  all  his  property  ac- 
cording to  Moslem  law.  While  he  was  going 
about  the  village  preaching,  he  was  arrested  and 
taken  before  the  governor  in  Urumia.  When 

1  Wilson,  Persian  Life  and  Customs,  p.  266. 

2  Jewett,  Twenty-Jive  Years  in  Persia,  p.  20. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    PERSIA  235 

he  spoke  for  Christ,  saying,  "  He  is  my  Saviour," 
they  cried,  "  Beat  him."  He  was  beaten  and 
reviled,  but  he  only  replied,  as  his  face  shone, 
"  So  was  my  Saviour  beaten."  After  a  short  im- 
prisonment he  was  removed  to  Tabriz.  As  he 
was  led  away  from  the  prison,  he  solemnly  called 
his  fellow-prisoners  to  witness  that  he  was  free 
from  their  blood  if  they  should  reject  the  way  of 
life,  and  "  they  all  rose  with  heavy  chains  on 
their  necks  and  bade  him  go  in  peace,  while  they 
prayed  that  his  God  and  the  Saviour  whom  he 
trusted  would  protect  him."  One  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan officers  who  had  watched  him,  said  to 
the  Mohammedan  crowd  in  the  yard :  "  This  is  a 
wonderful  man.  He  is  as  brave  as  a  lion.  A 
Mollah  has  just  been  trying  to  convince  him  of 
his  error,  but  he  replies  to  everything,  and  the 
Mollah  has  gone  away  with  his  head  hanging 
down.  He  says  that  Mohammed  is  not  a  prophet, 
and  that  unless  they  can  prove  that  he  is,  from 
the  Holy  Books,  he  will  not  give  up  his  faith  in 
Christ,  even  if  they  cut  off  his  head."  l  His  last 
request  as  he  set  out  for  the  capital  of  the  province 
was  :  "  Pray  for  me  that  I  may  be  a  witness  for 
Christ  before  the  great  of  my  people.  I  have  no 
fear  though  I  know  that  I  shall  die.  Good-by."  * 
Some  of  the  officials  in  Tabriz  and  Urumia 
seemed  to  be  in  real  sympathy  with  the  prisoner, 
but  he  was  cast  into  the  dark  dungeon  at  Tabriz, 
chained  to  vile  criminals,  beaten,  stunned  and  de- 
prived of  his  clothes  and  bedding.  One  night 
when  he  witnessed  for  Christ  to  his  fellow-prison- 
ers, they  fell  upon  him,  kicked  him,  and  took 
turns  in  choking  him.  His  throat  swelled  so 
that  he  could  scarcely  swallow  or  speak,  and  on 
Sunday,  May  14,  1843,  he  died  from  his  injuries. 

1  Wilson,  Persia  .-    Western  Mission,  p.  33  f. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  34. 


236  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

When  the  Crown  Prince  was  informed  of  his 
death,  he  asked,  "  How  did  he  die?  "  And  the 
jailor  answered,  "  He  died  like  a  Christian." 

"  He  through  fiery  trials  trod, 

And  from  great  affliction  came  ; 
Now  before  the  throne  of  God, 

Sealed  with  his  almighty  name, 
Clad  in  raiment  pure  and  white, 

Victor  palms  within  his  hands, 
Through  his  dear  Redeemer's  might 

More  than  conqueror  he  stands." 

He  was  buried  by  night  in  the  grave  of  a  rich 
Moslem,  whose  body  had  been  removed.  Like 
his  Master,  he  made  his  grave  with  the  wicked 
and  with  the  rich  in  his  death.  His  martyrdom 
sent  a  thrill  through  Persia,  and  brought  many  a 
weak  and  secret  Christian  face  to  face  with  the 
possible  consequences  of  an  open  confession  of 
his  faith. l 

Our  Church  has  undertaken  the  most  difficult 
task  ever  set  for  men  in  these  missions  in  Persia 
and  Syria.  But  some  day  the  chains  will  be  taken 
from  the  people,  and  they  will  be  free  to  turn  to 
Him  whose  truth  has  been  so  long  obscured  and 
his  name  so  long  profaned  by  Mohammed.  That 
that  day  may  be  hastened  in  Persia,  all  who  wish 
to  see  Christ  in  his  rightful  place  in  Moslem 
lands  must  pray,  as  the  missionaries  in  Teheran 
pray  each  Sunday  afternoon  in  the  little  service 
held  for  English  Christians  : — 

"Almighty  and  everlasting  God,  we  are  taught 
by  thy  holy  Word  that  the  hearts  of  kings  are  in 
thy  rule  and  governance,  and  that  thou  dost  dis- 
pose and  turn  them  as  it  seemeth  best  to  thy 
godly  wisdom.  We  beseech  thee  to  bless  thy 
servant  Muzaffar-ed  din,  Shah  of  Persia,  and  all 

1  Wilson,  Persia:  Western  Mission,  pp.  31-39. 


THE   MISSIONS   IN    PERSIA  237 

who  hold  authority  under  him,  and  especially 
those  upon  whom  new  responsibilities  may  come, 
and  so  overrule  and  direct  their  actions  that  thy 
name  may  be  glorified  and  thy  kingdom  ad- 
vanced. We  beseech  thee  to  open  a  great  and 
effectual  door  for  thy  truth,  and  to  establish  re- 
ligious liberty  in  this  land  and  throughout  all  the 
earth.  Grant  this,  O  most  merciful  Father,  for 
thy  dear  Son's  sake,  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord. 
Amen." 


THE  MISSIONS  IN  NORTH  AMERICA 


239 


CHAPTER  X 

THE   MISSIONS    IN    NORTH    AMERICA 

THE  earlier  missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
to  the  Indians  have  been  referred  to  in  the  chap- 
ter on  the  development  of  the  missionary  work  of 
the  Church  at  home.  After  the  organization  of 
the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society  in  1831, 
the  first  mission  to  the  Indians  that  was  under- 
taken was  among  the  Weas,  in  what  is  now  the 
state  of  Kansas,  and  the  ambitious  spirit  which 
animated  the  Church  in  its  plans  was  shown  in 
the  resolution  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg  in  1833, 
to  sustain  the  Society  "in  attempting  the  im- 
mediate supply  of  every  unsupplied  and  accessible 
tribe  of  the  Western  Indian  Reservation,  with  the 
means  of  grace."  In  1835  the  Iowa  and  Sac 
Mission  was  formed,  and  as  the  Weas  numbered 
only  a  few  hundred,  the  workers  among  the  Weas 
were  transferred  to  the  new  mission.  The  atro- 
cious whiskey  trade  played  havoc  with  these  poor 
Indians. 

The  Chippewa  Mission  was  started  in  1838,  in 
the  north  of  Michigan,  and  the  great  missionary 
among  the  Chippewas  was  Peter  Dougherty,  who 
opened  a  school,  taught  the  people  how  to  build 
log  houses,  stirred  them  up  to  become  total  ab- 
stainers from  liquor,  taught  them  to  be  good  farm- 
ers, published  a  Chippewa  spelling  book,  and  es- 
tablished a  true  Christian  village.  When,  in 
1852,  the  new  Constitution  of  Michigan  per- 
mitted them  to  become  citizens,  they  removed  to 
the  west  side  of  Grand  Traverse  Bay,  and  pleaded 
241 


242  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

with  Mr.  Dougherty  to  accompany  them.  This 
mission  was  discontinued  in  1871. 

In  1842  a  mission  was  commenced  among  the 
Creeks,  who  had  been  forcibly  removed  in  1837 
from  their  homes  in  Georgia  and  Alabama  to  the 
Indian  Territory.  The  Indians  were  sullen  and 
angry  at  their  removal,  and  even  before  the  re- 
moval had  been  opposed  to  missionaries.  The 
Rev.  R.  M.  Loughridge  soon  won  their  regard, 
however,  and  in  six  years  they  were  giving  $50 
yearly  per  scholar  in  two  schools,  for  whose  erec- 
tion they  gave  $6,000.  The  Civil  War  broke  up 
this  mission,  most  of  the  Indians  joining  the 
South,  but  it  was  resumed  in  1866,  and  the 
Creeks,  now  numbering  nearly  14,000,  largely 
on  account  of  missionary  influences  are  counted 
among  the  civilized  tribes. 

One  of  the  best  of  the  Indian  missions  was  es- 
tablished among  the  Choctaws  in  1845.  Spencer 
Academy,  which  had  from  the  Choctaw  nation 
an  annual  endowment  of  $6,000,  and  $2,000  from 
the  Indian  Department,  was  under  the  Mission's 
care,  and  for  years  turned  out  men  who  were  a 
power  for  good  throughout  the  nation.  There 
were  many  revivals  too,  but  the  war  brought  this 
Mission  also  to  an  end,  and  it  was  not  resumed 
until  1882. 

The  Omaha  and  Ottoe  Mission  was  commenced 
in  1846.  Together  these  tribes  numbered  about 
two  thousand.  They  were  very  poor,  "  both  men 
and  women  being  clothed  in  skins,  and  their  chil- 
dren, even  in  winter,  nearly  naked."  The  Sioux, 
moreover,  had  driven  them  out  of  their  old  vil- 
lages above  Council  Bluffs.  It  was  hard  and  dis- 
couraging work  among  all  these  tribes.  An  ac- 
count which  Mr.  Rankin,  then  Treasurer  of  the 
Board,  wrote  of  his  visit  with  the  Hon.  Walter 
Lowrie,  to  the  Ottoes,  in  1858,  gives  an  interest- 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    NORTH    AMERICA          243 

ing  picture  :  "  Our  arrival  awakened  little  inter- 
est in  the  camp ;  a  few  came  around  us,  but  most 
of  them  took  no  notice  of  the  strangers.  Groups 
of  men  and  boys  were  playing  marbles,  others 
were  stretched  full  length  on  the  grass;  some 
were  grotesquely  ornamented.  One  young  Indian 
was  passing  by  on  a  pony,  with  his  head  shaved 
and  his  nude  body  painted  throughout.  Not  a 
man  or  boy  was  at  work.  Their  cornfield  was  a 
little  distance  off,  but  it  was  tilled  by  the  Govern- 
ment farmer,  and  for  all  other  work,  when  not  on 
their  hunt,  the  women  are  hewers  of  wood  and 
drawers  of  water  and  bearers  of  burdens.  A 
number  were  shifting  tents,  and  one  woman  was 
bent  under  a  load  of  tent  poles  that  would  have 
borne  down  a  strong  laboring  man,  while  another 
had  upon  her  back  all  the  utensils  of  her  lodge 
and  its  canvas  covering.  One  squaw  standing 
near  turned  up  to  me  her  infant's  face,  as  it  lay 
in  its  blanket-bed  on  her  shoulders,  and  said, 
with  a  pleasant  smile,  'Pappoose.'  One  cannot 
but  admire  these  Indian  children,  with  their 
bright,  intelligent  faces  and  athletic  forms.  I  do 
not  wonder  that  our  missionary  teachers  among 
other  tribes  become  so  much  attached  to  them. 
I  looked  into  some  of  the  tents ;  nothing  was  to  be 
seen  but  a  little  fire  in  the  center  and  a  few  cook- 
ing and  eating  utensils.  Men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, with  yelping  dogs,  were  sitting  or  lying 
down  on  deer  or  buffalo  skins.  All  wore  blankets, 
save  some  of  the  younger  children,  who  were 
naked.  We  were  disappointed  in  finding  most 
of  the  chiefs  away  on  a  friendly  visit  to  the 
Pawnees  and  Kaws,  and  that  no  general  council 
could  be  held.  But  one  of  them  was  at  home, 
Big  Soldier,  who  came  up  and  saluted  us.  He 
was  a  fine  specimen  of  the  red  man,  with  an  ex- 
pression of  intelligence  and  energy.  He  held 


244  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

together  with  one  hand  his  blanket  thrown  loosely 
over  his  shoulders,  while  in  speaking  he  gesticu- 
lated with  the  other.  Several  times,  when  spe- 
cially animated,  his  blanket  fell  partly  aside  and 
disclosed  a  manly  form,  entirely  naked,  save  a 
bandage  of  dressed  skin  bound  round  his  loins, 
with  rings  and  beads  pendant  from  three  openings 
slit  in  his  ears.  ...  It  was  a  sad  sight,  next  to 
being  in  an  insane  retreat,  to  see  such  childish- 
ness on  the  part  of  full-grown  men  and  women."  ; 

The  Mission  among  the  Seminoles  was  formed 
in  1848.  They,  like  the  Creeks,  had  been  forci- 
bly removed  to  the  Indian  Territory  from  Florida, 
and  were  embittered  by  it ;  but  the  Mission  won 
its  way,  breaking  down  their  hostility,  and  abat- 
ing the  drunkenness  and  idleness.  In  1854  a 
revival  came,  and  proved  the  turning  point  in 
the  history  of  this  poor  tribe,  turning  their  course 
at  last  upward  to  thrift  and  righteousness. 

The  Chickasaw  Mission  began  in  1852,  on  the 
Chickasavv  reservation  in  the  territory  on  the  Texas 
line,  and  prospered  until  the  Civil  War,  when 
the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  assumed  it. 

In  1856  a  school  was  started  among  the  Kicka- 
poos,  about  227  in  number,  in  northeastern  Kan- 
sas, about  twenty  miles  south  of  the  Mission 
among  the  lowas.  It  had  a  troubled  history,  and 
closed  in  1860. 

No  new  Indian  missions  were  established  be- 
tween 1856  and  1868,  when  work  was  undertaken 
among  the  Navajoes  and  Pueblos  of  New  Mexico, 
each  about  6,000  in  number.  This  work  was 
transferred  to  the  Home  Mission  Board  in  1877. 
In  1868,  also,  a  missionary  was  sent  to  the  Win- 
nebagoes,  who  had  been  driven  from  their  homes 
in  Minnesota  by  the  Sioux,  and  who  were  living 
on  the  Omaha  Reservation. 

1  Rankin,  Hand  Book,  pp.  89,  90. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN.  NORTH    AMERICA          245 

The  work  among  the  Senecas,  the  remnants  of 
the  "Six  Nations,"  about  3,000  in  number,  and 
living  in  Western  New  York  on  seven  reserva- 
tions of  about  87,677  acres  of  land,  was  begun  in 
1811,  by  the  New  York  Missionary  Society,  and 
after  passing  under  the  care  of  two  other  Boards, 
came  to  our  Board  in  1870.  The  Rev.  Asher 
Wright,  who  died  in  his  72d  year  in  1875,  was 
"the  only  white  man  who  ever  acquired  a  satis- 
factory knowledge  of  the  Seneca  language. ' '  He 
constructed  for  them  a  written  language,  and 
translated  the  four  gospels.  A  man  of  great 
ability  and  of  great  loveliness  of  character,  he 
bore  himself  with  such  good  will  as  to  win  the 
love  of  all,  and  when  he  died  he  was  buried 
among  the  graves  of  his  Indian  brethren.  He 
had  "emptied  himself"  to  live  with  the  Senecas, 
and  he  made  his  grave  with  them  in  his  death. 

The  noble  Mission  among  the  Dakotas  or 
Sioux,  was  begun  in  1835,  by  the  American 
Board.  These  Indians  constitute  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  warlike  tribes.  In  1835  they 
numbered  50,000,  now  about  30,000.  They 
spread  out  over  the  whole  northwest,  east  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  removing  to  their  reservation 
in  1853.  After  the  terrible  massacre  of  white 
settlers  in  1862,  and  the  swift  punishment  they 
received,  hundreds  of  them  were  converted  and 
baptized.  In  1871  a  portion  of  the  Mission  with 
its'  churches  was  transferred  to  the  Presbyterian 
Board,  with  two  of  the  noblest  missionaries  who 
ever  worked  for  the  Indians,  the  Rev.  Thomas  A. 
Williamson,  M.  D.,  who  founded  the  mission, 
and  his  son,  the  Rev.  John  P.  Williamson,  D.  D., 
who  is  still  at  work  among  the  Dakotas.  There 
are  now  more  than  1,400  members  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  among  the  Dakotas,  and  some 
years  ago  Dr.  Williamson  wrote  that  the  people 


246  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

were  so  closely  attached  to  the  church  at  Flan- 
dreau,  that  they  could  "only  be  kept  away  on 
Sabbath  by  the  severest  necessity.  One  of  the 
stormy  days  last  winter,"  added  Dr.  Williamson, 
"Paksikan,  a  man  so  deformed  in  his  legs  that  I 
had  imagined  he  could  scarcely  walk  forty  rods, 
walked  eight  miles  to  church.  His  clothes  were 
so  thin  he  was  afraid  to  ride  lest  he  should  freeze 
to  death."  In  1892  every  adult  member  of  the 
Flandreau  community  was  a  member  of  some 
church,  and  there  were  many  faithful  ordained 
Dakota  preachers.  The  work  spread  to  the  Pine 
Ridge  agency,  and  into  Montana;  and  in  1900 
there  were  twenty-five  churches,  all  with  Indian 
pastors,  which  had  been  organized  into  a  Dakota 
Presbytery.  Dr.  Thomas  Williamson  died  in 
1879,  at  tne  age  °f  e'ghty,  having  just  completed 
the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Dakota  lan- 
guage, after  a  life  of  narrow  escapes  from  death 
and  many  perils,  and  of  endurance  and  devotion 
that  won  the  confidence  of  all  men  and  the  abid- 
ing love  of  the  Indians.  After  the  massacre  he 
went  on  to  Washington  in  behalf  of  the  Dakotas, 
in  whom  he  believed  unswervingly,  and  secured 
a  commutation  of  their  sentence  to  a  removal  to 
the  upper  waters  of  the  Missouri.  When  the  In- 
dians learned  of  the  expense  to  which  he  had 
gone  for  them,  they  desired  to  refund  it,  and 
earned  by  making  bows  and  arrows  and  other 
trifles  enough  to  pay  back  more  than  half  of 
what  he  had  spent.  With  all  his  work  he  was  a 
scholar  of  no  mean  quality,  in  French,  Dakota, 
Hebrew,  and  Greek.  The  spirit  which  he  im- 
pressed on  the  Dakota  Christians  abides  in  them 
to  this  day. 

In  the  year  1871,  the  Board  took  up  work 
among  the  Nez  Perces  in  Idaho,  appointing  to 
the  Mission  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Spaulding,  who  had 


THE   MISSIONS   IN    NORTH    AMERICA  247 

been  with  Dr.  Whitman  at  the  massacre  in  1847, 
when  Whitman  and  others  were  murdered,  and 
whose  wife  and  Mrs.  Whitman  were  the  first 
white  women  to  cross  the  continent.  On  return- 
ing to  the  Nez  Perces  in  1871,  his  work  was  at 
once  greatly  blessed.  He  baptized  in  the  three 
years  preceding  his  death,  in  1874,  more  than  nine 
hundred  Nez  Perces  and  Spokans,  translated  the 
Gospel  of  Matthew  for  them,  and  a  collection  of 
hymns.  The  other  best  known  names  of  mis- 
sionaries to  the  Nez  Perces  are  Miss  Kate  and 
Miss  Sue  McBeth,  women  of  apostolic  zeal,  who 
have  trained  preachers,  taught  and  preached  and 
established  homes. 

The  only  other  Indian  Mission  was  among  the 
Sac  and  Fox  tribes,  begun  at  Tama  City  in  1883. 

"The  record  of  the  Board  from  its  organiza- 
tion to  1886,  shows  a  list  of  453  missionaries  of 
all  classes  who  were  engaged  in  these  missions, 
and  an  expenditure  for  the  Indians  of  $525,000, 
the  free  gift  of  our  churches,  besides  $520,000, 
intrusted  to  it  by  the  government  for  educational 
work.  Over  3,000  persons  were  brought,  during 
that  time,  from  heathenism  into  the  Christian 
Church  (exclusive  of  nearly  2,000  transferred 
from  the  American  Board,  converts  among  the 
Choctaws,  the  Senecas,  and  the  Dakotas),  besides 
many  thousands  more  who  were  elevated  in  char- 
acter and  morals  by  the  Bible  light  and  influence 
around  them,  but  who  never  united  with  the 
Church.  At  least  6,000  children  were  taught  in 
the  mission  schools,  besides  great  numbers  more 
who  received  instruction  in  the  government 
schools,  and  were  thus  prepared  for  useful  lives. 
These  missions  were  certainly  the  chief  agencies 
in  the  civilization,  or  semi-civilization,  of  many 
tribes, — the  Senecas,  some  of  the  Chippewa  and 
Dakota  bands,  the  Omahas,  lowas,  Creeks,  Semi- 


248  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

noles,  Choctaws  and  others."  l  One  by  one  the 
missions  that  have  not  been  discontinued  have 
been  transferred  to  other  Boards,  a  few  at  the 
time  of  the  Civil  War  being  taken  up  by  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Church  ;  but  the  majority 
have  passed  under  the  care  of  the  Board  of 
Home  Missions,  the  last,  those  among  the  Dako- 
tas,  Nez  Perces  and  Senecas,  having  been  taken 
over  in  1893. 

The  first  mission  work  undertaken  in  North 
America  apart  from  the  Indians,  was  among  the 
Chinese,  who  began  in  1848  to  pour  into  Cali- 
fornia from  Canton,  at  the  tidings  of  the  discovery 
of  gold.  The  wealth  of  America  was  grossly 
exaggerated  to  the  Chinese  by  the  shipmasters  and 
others,  and  in  1856,  43,000  had  come,  11,000  in 
June  and  July,  1852.  That  year  the  Board  sent 
the  Rev.  William  Speer,  who  had  been  a  mission- 
ary in  Canton,  to  open  work  among  these  Chin- 
ese. "The  immediate  urgent  need,"  writes  Dr. 
Speer,  "was  medical  relief.  The  greedy  and 
merciless  ship  people  at  Hongkong  had  packed 
hundreds  together  under  the  hatches,  as  had  been 
done  with  Africans  in  the  old  slave  trade,  often 
in  small  vessels  or  abandoned  hulks.  The  prom- 
ised voyage  of  a  few  days  was  prolonged  to  weeks 
or  months.  This,  and  bad  and  insufficient  pro- 
visions, brought  on  scurvy,  beri-beri,  dysentery, 
and  the  death  in  some  cases  of  a  quarter  to  a  third 
of  those  on  board,  who  were  cast  into  the 
sea.  Many  of  the  survivors,  broken  down, 
feeble,  dropsical,  lay  long  in  the  Companies' 
houses,  or  among  their  own  people.  .  .  .  The 
anxiety  of  all,  especially  the  younger  and  more 
enterprising  men,  t©  learn  English  filled  an  even- 
ing school,  and  gave  opportunities  to  enlighten 
them  upon  geography,  astronomy,  and  the  true 

1  Historical  Sketches,  p.  227. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    NORTH    AMERICA  249 

teachings  of  nature,  Providence  and  Divine  reve- 
lation. Shocks  of  electricity  that  made  them 
jump  and  their  eyes  to  start  out,  experiments  in 
galvanism  and  magnetism,  showed  them  the  false- 
hood of  their  old  idolatrous  superstitions  and 
fears.  A  microscope,  a  globe,  a  telescope,  and 
other  apparatus,  opened  new  worlds  beneath, 
around  and  above  them.  .  .  .  Some  undertook 
manufactures  by  American  methods  and  ma- 
chinery. Others  became  intelligent  and  trusted 
employees  in  American  financial  and  commercial 
establishments.  One  remarkable  man  was  helped, 
through  a  noble  Christian  friend,  to  perfect  him- 
self in  engine  and  steamer  building.  He  con- 
structed at  San  Francisco  a  beautiful  and  com- 
plete steamboat  a  few  feet  long,  and  a  railroad 
track  which  his  friends  claimed  was  the  first 
passenger  railroad  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  After 
returning  to  China,  he  became  connected  with 
the  Imperial  Arsenal  at  Shanghai."  Much  of 
the  persecution  of  these  early  days  was  modified 
by  the  influence  of  the  Mission.  After  Dr.  Speer 
was  obliged  by  ill-health  to  leave  in  1857,  the 
work  was  taken  up  in  1859  by  the  Rev.  A.  W. 
Loomis,  who  had  been  a  missionary  at  Ningpo, 
and  he  was  joined  in  1870,  by  the  Rev.  I.  W. 
Condit,  who  is  still  in  charge  of  the  work. 

These  Chinese  come  from  one  small  section  of 
the  province  of  Kwangtung  in  China.  They  are 
mostly  young  men,  who  come  to  make  money,  and 
who  then  return  to  China.  The  Companies  that 
bring  them  contract  to  carry  their  bodies  back 
to  China  for  burial  in  their  own  soil  if  they  die 
here.  From  the  beginning  their  distinct  national 
superstitions,  their  frugality  and  industry,  their 
irresistible  competition,  have  aroused  hostility,  and 
the  Restriction  Laws  of  1882  and  1884  became 
the  "Exclusion  Act"  of  1888.  The  Chinese 


250  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

have  steadily  decreased  ever  since,  and  while 
they  are  not  excluded  wholly,  the  law  is  as  little 
evaded  as  most  laws. 

Schools,  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations, 
and  churches,  have  been  the  means  of  reaching 
the  Chinese  men.  The  women's  work  has  been 
specially  important.  There  is  only  about  one 
Chinese  woman  here  to  each  thirty  men,  and 
many  of  those  who  have  come  have  been  brought 
for  immoral  purposes.  Over  five  hundred  of 
these  have  been  rescued,  often  at  great  risk  and 
peril,  from  such  a  wretched  fate,  through  the 
"Chinese  Rescue  Home"  in  San  Francisco. 

The  work  among  the  Chinese  is  supported  now 
in  most  of  the  cities  where  the  Chinese  have 
spread,  by  local  churches  ;  but  in  San  Francisco, 
Portland,  Los  Angeles,  and  New  York,  it  is  still 
helped  by  the  Board.  Far  more  than  is  now  ex- 
pended upon  it  comes  back  in  the  reflex  influence 
of  this  work  upon  China.  Hundreds  of  these 
Chinese  have  gone  back  as  earnest  Christians, 
and  the  district  in  South  China,  from  which 
they  come,  is  full  of  beautiful  chapels  which  have 
been  built  with  money  sent  from  America.  The 
Chinese  here  have  regularly  organized  missionary 
societies  for  the  support  of  the  work  in  South 
China.  It  is  a  great  thing  to  send  back  such  men 
to  China  to  counteract  the  influence  of  those  who 
have  seen  only  the  vile  and  vicious  side  of  civili- 
zation. I  met  in  his  home  village  in  Kwangtung, 
one  happy-faced  young  man,  converted  in  Port- 
land, who  was  supporting  himself  by  photography 
and  carrying  on  work  in  his  town.  He  had  just 
built  a  Christian  school.  Some  people,  he  said, 
had  threatened  to  "put  the  rock  on  it,  but,"  he 
added,  "they  cannot,  for  it  is  put  upon  the 
Rock."  No  one  could  measure  the  good  that 
would  be  accomplished  if  the  Christian  Church 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    NORTH    AMERICA          251 

should  set  herself  to  reach  each  of  these  Chinese 
who  have  come  to  the  Church's  very  doors. 

In  1885,  to  this  work  among  the  Chinese  was 
added  a  Mission  to  the  Japanese  on  the  Pacific 
Coast,  under  the  charge  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  E.  A. 
Sturge,  formerly  in  Siam.  Many  of  the  Japa- 
nese were  Christians,  and  in  the  main  they  were 
of  a  much  better  social  grade  than  the  Chinese, 
although  the  students  who  came  at  first  have  been 
largely  succeeded  by  artisans,  farm  laborers,  etc. 
A  strong  Japanese  church  of  over  two  hundred 
members  exists  in  San  Francisco,  and  the  young 
Japanese  men  bear  the  expense  of  the  work  of  the 
church,  the  two  homes  where  many  of  them  live, 
and  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 

The  greatest  mission  field  on  this  continent  now 
under  the  care  of  the  Board  is  Mexico.  Some  are 
disposed  to  question  whether  a  country  like 
Mexico,  so  progressive  and  enlightened  and  with 
a  form  of  Christianity,  should  be  made  a  Prot- 
estant mission  field.  But  Christ's  Christianity 
was  not  brought  to  Mexico  when  the  pious  soldiers 
of  Cortez  subdued  the  land  in  "  the  holy  war  " 
of  1521,  and  his  priests  baptized  four  million 
people  in  a  few  years,  one  man  baptizing  about 
five  thousand  in  one  day,  and  not  desisting  until 
he  was  unable  longer  to  lift  his  hands.  The 
effect  was  inevitable.  "The  introduction  of  the 
Roman  religion,"  declared  Humboldt,  "had  no 
other  effect  upon  the  Mexicans  than  to  substitute 
new  ceremonies  and  symbols  for  the  rites  of  a 
sanguinary  worship.  Dogma  has  not  succeeded 
dogma,  but  only  ceremony  to  ceremony."  On 
such  a  Church  feasted  a  corrupt  and  crafty 
priesthood,  the  support  and  product  of  the 
tyrannical  political  system  which  lasted  from 
Cortez's  conquest  for  three  centuries.  In 
the  struggle  for  freedom  from  the  eccle- 


252  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

siastical  bondage  which  lasted  even  after  the 
yoke  of  Spanish  authority  had  been  thrown  off, 
Senor  Lerdo  compiled,  in  1850,  as  Minister  of 
Public  Works,  a  statement  of  the  wealth  of  the 
Mexican  hierarchy,  showing  that  it  owned  86 1 
estates  of  the  value  of  $71,000,000,  and 
22,000  city  lots  valued  at  $113,000,000.  This 
was  but  a  partial  revelation.  The  yearly  income 
of  the  priests  was  estimated  at  $25,000,000, 
while  the  whole  banking  business,  loans  and 
mortgages,  was  in  their  hands,  and  a  bankrupt 
government  was  helpless  before  them.  Of  nearly 
half  the  property  in  the  City  of  Mexico  the  arch- 
bishop was  the  virtual  owner.  The  Church  pos- 
sessed wealth  in  other  forms.  Three  bejewelled 
petticoats  of  the  Virgin  of  Remedies,  a  figure  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  in  the  Cathedral  of  Puebla, 
were  believed  to  be  worth  $3,000,000.  The  prof- 
ligacy and  corruption  consequent  upon  this 
wealth  were  fearful.  Twelve  bishops  in  1793  had 
an  income  of  $539,000. 

In  this  luxury  and  wealth  Mexicans  had  but 
little  share.  The  priesthood  was  a  Spanish  in- 
cubus, working  ever  toward  the  subjection  of  the 
native  peoples  and  the  maintenance  of  European 
control.  From  the  beginning  the  Aztec  had  no 
part  in  it,  and  at  the  end  of  its  supremacy  it  was 
alien  to  the  people  whom  it  had  oppressed.  It 
was  a  heavy  oppression.  There  were  at  one  time 
more  than  fifty  monasteries  and  convents  in  Mex- 
ico City  alone.  Robertson  says  :  "  In  the  year 
1644  the  City  of  Mexico  presented  a  petition  to 
the  King  of  Spain,  praying  that  no  new  monas- 
tery be  founded,  and  that  the  revenue  of  those 
already  established  might  be  circumscribed,  other- 
wise the  religious  houses  would  soon  acquire  the 
property  of  the  whole  country."  In  Mexico 
City  the  monastery  of  San  Francisco  covered  four 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    NORTH    AMERICA  253 

large  blocks,  while  at  San  Luis  Potosi  was  another 
nearly  as  large,  many  of  its  walls,  still  standing, 
being  six  or  eight  feet  thick.  On  one  corner  of  the 
property  is  now  a  Presbyterian  church,  while  in 
Mexico  City  the  Methodist  church  and  printing 
establishment  occupy  a  part  of  the  great  monas- 
tery— the  greatest  in  the  New  World,  and  peopled 
at  the  time  of  its  confiscation  by  fourteen  monks  ! 
The  heavy  walls  of  many  of  these  old  monas- 
teries furnished  safe  and  secret  sepulcher  for  the 
victims  of  the  Inquisition.  Corruption  was  the 
fruit  of  this  evil  supremacy. 

The  Church  controlled  marriage,  and  fixed  the 
fee  so  high  as  to  force  the  mass  of  the  people  into 
concubinage.  Formal  marriage  was  beyond  their 
means.  She  controlled  education,  and  was  happy 
to  insure  the  permanent  ignorance  of  the  people. 
She  controlled  baptism  and  burial ;  held  the  keys 
of  life  and  of  death,  and  by  all  the  curses  of  the 
life  that  now  is  and  of  the  world  to  come  drove 
into  darkness  those  whom  she  should  have  led 
into  light.  At  the  outset  she  substituted  for  the 
living  Christ  an  image  of  the  Virgin,  a  wooden 
figure,  "Virgin  de  los  Remedies, "  brought  over 
from  Spain  by  the  army  of  Cortez. 

Mary  and  the  saints  constitute  the  Mexican 
pantheon.  The  living  God  is  not  known,  and 
the  Christ  is  afar  off.  If  there  was  a  true  faith  in 
the  past,  only  its  corpse  or  its  ashes  remain.  If 
we  lift  the  covering  to-day,  as  Hopkinson  Smith 
says,  the  dead  body  can  be  seen.  Liberalism  is 
the  religion  of  the  men  who  rule  Mexico,  while 
the  Indians  worship  their  Christian  idols  and 
the  women  the  Virgin.  The  roulette  wheel 
spins  at  the  church  fair,  and  tawdry  bullfights  and 
cockfights  afford  Sunday  delight.  Apparitions 
of  the  Virgin  are  still  discovered  on  the  leaves  of 
the  maguey  plant  and  worshiped.  Idolatry  is  not 


254  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

forbidden  by  the  Ten  Commandments  as  given  to 
the  people  by  the  Church.  In  the  Mexican  deca- 
logue the  second  commandment  is,  "  Thou  shalt 
not  take  the  name  of  God  in  vain;  "  the  third, 
"Thou  shalt  keep  the  feasts;"  and  the  tenth 
commandment  is  divided  into  two  to  make  out 
the  number,  the  second  command  as  given  to 
Moses  being  wholly  omitted,  and  the  fourth  dis- 
torted into  the  injunction  to  observe  the  feasts. 

The  marvel  is  that  after  three  hundred  years 
of  this,  the  oppression  of  the  Spanish  tyrants  and 
the  deadening  paralysis  of  the  Church  of  Rome, 
unchecked  by  the  atmosphere  of  freedom,  any 
manliness,  or  strength,  or  spirit  was  left  in  the 
Mexican  nation.  The  conquest  had  been  most 
cruel  and  repressive.  Even  Clavigero,  the  Jesuit 
historian  of  Mexico,  confessed  that  the  Spaniards 
"  in  one  year  of  merciless  massacre  sacrificed 
more  human  victims  to  avarice  and  ambition  than 
the  Indians,  during  the  existence  of  their  empire, 
devoted  in  chaste  worship  to  their  gods."  The 
soldiers  of  Cortez  destroyed  the  records  of  the 
Aztecs — records  of  untold  value.  A  system  of 
peonage  was  introduced  that  was  slavery.  One 
good  priest,  Las  Casas,  is  remembered  now,  al- 
most a  solitary  exception  to  the  great  mass,  as 
the  protector  of  the  Indians.  From  Cortez  until 
1821  sixty-one  viceroys  in  succession  governed 
Mexico,  enforcing  legislation  devised  in  Spain, 
destroying  all  industries  which  might  compete  in 
Spanish  markets  or  shut  Spanish  goods  out  of 
home  markets,  ruining  the  land  under  forms  of 
law,  or  robbing  it  without  law,  pillaging  its  mines 
of  silver  and  the  hearts  of  its  people  of  the  joys  of 
life  and  the  peace  of  death.  It  is  a  testimony  to 
the  strength  and  worth  of  the  nation  that  all  this 
did  not  destroy  the  spirit  of  liberty,  did  not  crush 
from  them  that  passion  after  right  which  makes 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    NORTH    AMERICA          255 

true  children  of  a  living  God  everywhere  readier 
to  fight  and  die  for  truth  and  justice  than  to  live 
in  the  tame  bondage  of  a  lying  peace.  Mexico 
won  her  freedom  against  odds,  and  in  a  contest 
compared  with  which  our  struggle  for  independ- 
ence was  child's  play.  Hidalgo,  Morelos,  and 
Nicolas  Bravo,  are  names  to  be  set  beside  any  of 
ours.  They  show  that  there  were  some,  at  least, 
even  among  the  priesthood,  who  loved  liberty, 
and  counted  the  far-off  vision  of  it  sweeter  even 
than  the  breath  of  life.  If  they  failed,  yet  over 
their  dead  bodies  the  cause  of  Mexican  independ- 
ence moved  steadily  on,  and  at  the  last  they 
failed  not. 

"  They  never  fail  who  die  in  a  great  cause." 

Benito  Juarez,  a  pure  Indian,  in  1855-57  es- 
tablished free  institutions,  a  free  constitution,  re- 
ligious liberty,  free  speech,  free  schools,  the  secu- 
larization of  the  ill-gotten  wealth  of  the  Church, 
and,  in  advance  of  the  Emancipation  Proclama- 
tion, freedom  and  protection  to  all  slaves  who  en- 
tered the  national  territory.  The  Maximilian 
fiasco  was  only  a  sad  episode.  Mexico  had  a 
better  destiny. 

Before  his  death,  Juarez,  whom  Mexicans  rev- 
erently and  rightly  regard  as  their  Washington, 
declared:  "Upon  the  development  of  Protes- 
tantism largely  depends  the  future  happiness  of  our 
country."  Protestantism  had  entered  Mexico  in 
1847  between  the  covers  of  the  Bibles  carried  in 
the  knapsacks  of  American  soldiers.  It  entered  to 
remain  and  to  increase.  Melinda  Rankin,  from 
her  seminary  at  Brownsville,  Tex.,  sent  Bibles 
and  Christian  pupils  into  Mexico,  and  in  1864, 
after  ten  years'  work,  herself  crossed  over  to 
Monterey.  In  1865,  in  Mexico  City,  Francisco 
Aguilas,  who  had  withdrawn  from  the  Roman 


256  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

priesthood,  gathered  those  who  were  seeking  to 
follow  a  pure  religion,  and  on  the  coming  of  the 
Rev.  Henry  C.  Riley,  in  1869,  sent  by  the 
American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union,  this 
company  formed  the  first  Protestant  church  in 
Mexico  City,  which  was  soon  mightily  reinforced 
by  the  conversion  of  Manuel  Aguas,  a  Dominican 
friar,  who  had  been  chosen  as  the  antagonist  of 
Mr.  Riley.  This  church  in  Mexico  City  was  not 
the  first  Protestant  church  in  the  country.  In 
1867,  as  the  result  of  Miss  Rankin's  colporteurs' 
work,  an  independent  evangelical  congregation 
was  formed  in  the  house  of  Juan  Amador,  at 
Villa  de  Cos,  a  village  fifty  miles  northeast  of 
Zacatecas.  The  field  was  ripe  to  the  harvest, 
and  in  1872  the  Presbyterian  missionaries  entered, 
the  Methodists  in  1873,  the  Congregationalists  in 
1880,  and  the  Baptists  the  next  year.  The  Spirit 
of  God  had  gone  before  the  missionaries.  Inde- 
pendent congregations  had  sprung  up  in  many 
places,  the  fruit  of  scattered  Bibles.  In  1871  a 
Mexican  opened  a  bookstore  in  Zitacauro,  and 
offered  for  sale  four  hundred  Bibles  and  tracts. 
The  State  of  Michoacan,  in  which  Zitacauro  is 
situated,  has  always  been  peopled  with  bold  and 
independent  men.  The  liberators  were  born 
there.  Its  people  were  most  stubborn  in  their  re- 
sistance to  Spanish  oppression,  and  most  fearless 
of  Romish  superstition.  In  the  war  for  independ- 
ence they  took  the  images  out  of  the  churches  and 
piled  them  up  for  bonfires,  saying,  "  If  these  are 
gods  they  won't  burn,  and  if  they  are  not  gods 
they  might  better  burn."  The  Bibles  spoke  the 
needed  message  to  them,  and  congregations 
sprang  up  in  a  score  of  places.  Sr.  Rodriguez, 
an  aged  and  blind  preacher,  able  and  refined, 
living  at  Zitacauro,  said  he  could  remember  the 
early  days,  when  the  Bible  was  wrapped  up  with 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    NORTH    AMERICA          257 

the  lunch  to  be  taken  to  the  day's  work,  the  noon- 
day prayer  meetings,  when  laborers  gathered  for 
their  meals,  and  the  moving  lights  nightly  on  the 
hillsides,  marking  the  course  of  the  people  gather- 
ing for  worship  and  praise.  These  were  days  of 
apostolic  fervor,  when  those  who  had  learned  of 
Christ  went  everywhere  preaching  him. 

The  fervor  and  devotion  of  these  early  days, 
yet  to  be  revived,  were  met  by  fierce  hostilities 
and  persecution.  In  the  excitement  aroused  by 
the  preaching  of  Manuel  Aguas,  forty  Protestants 
were  killed.  In  1873  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Stephens,  a 
Congregational  missionary,  was  shot  at  Ahualulco 
by  soldiers  while  appealing  to  them  for  protec- 
tion, and  his  body  was  barbarously  abused. 
Preachers  or  members  of  Presbyterian  churches 
suffered  martyrdom  at  Acapulco,  where  six  were 
killed ;  at  Almoloya,  at  Ahuacualtitlan,  where 
Abraham  Gomez,  the  newly  ordained  preacher, 
was  beaten  to  death  with  his  own  large  Bible, 
which  was  then  put  under  his  head  in  mockery 
for  a  pillow,  and  at  El  Carro,  a  hacienda  near 
Zacatecas,  where  Gregoria  Monreal  was  stoned 
to  death  and  then  decapitated.  One  of  the  mis- 
sionaries declared  five  years  ago  that  the  martyr 
roll  of  the  Protestant  Church  in  Mexico  included 
sixty-five  names.  The  days  of  martyrdom  have 
perhaps  passed  away,  but  it  requires  courage  still 
to  be  a  Christian  in  Mexico. 

The  work  of  our  own  Mission  in  Mexico  began 
when  the  first  missionaries,  Messrs.  Thomson, 
Phillips  and  Pitkin,  with  their  wives,  reached 
Mexico  City.  One  of  the  first  Protestant  Chris- 
tians to  join  them,  the  Rev.  Arcadio  Morales,  is 
still  living,  and  pastor  of  the  leading  church  in 
Mexico,  a  man  of  great  power  and  devotion,  and 
unusually  beloved.  From  Mexico  City  the  work 
has  spread  through  the  Federal  District  and  the 


258  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN   MISSIONS 

States  of  Mexico,  Guerrero,  Michoacan,  Vera 
Cruz,  and  down  to  the  extreme  south  in  Yucatan 
and  Tabasco.  In  the  north  it  has  spread  from 
Monterey  and  Saltillo  and  Zacatecas  and  San 
Louis  Potosi.  There  are  two  good  normal 
schools  for  girls  at  Saltillo  and  Mexico  City,  a 
seminary  for  boys  at  Coyoacan,  a  suburb  of  the 
capital,  and  a  printing  press  which  issues  nearly 
3,000,000  pages  a  year,  of  tracts,  books,  Sunday- 
school  lesson  leaves  and  religious  papers.  The 
Rev.  T.  F.  Wallace,  D.  D.,  is  "  Father  Wallace  " 
to  the  mission,  having  joined  it  in  1878,  six  years 
before  Mr.  Brown  and  Mr.  Boyce,  the  next  in 
seniority  of  service. 

"  When  I  cast  my  eye  over  into  that  priest- 
bound  country,  my  heart  yearned  for  its  emanci- 
pation from  the  dreadful  tyranny  of  papal  laws. 
But  upon  my  distressing  thoughts  a  light  suddenly 
arose  by  ascertaining  that  Bibles  were  being  carried 
over  into  that  dark  land  by  the  Mexicans  on  the 
American  side  of  the  river.  Although  I  knew 
the  transfer  of  Bibles  into  Mexico  to  be  a  direct 
violation  of  the  laws  of  the  country,  yet  I  felt  no 
conscientious  scruples  in  lending  them  my  aid ; 
for  I  felt  God's  word  to  be  above  all  human  law, 
and  no  earthly  power  had  the  right  of  withholding 
it  from  any  of  God's  accountable  creatures." 
This  is  what  Matilda  Rankin  wrote  in  her  Twenty 
Years  Among  the  Mexicans.  Those  laws  have 
been  completely  changed  since.  Shall  we  not 
feel  as  eager  to  carry  the  pure  gospel  to  the 
Mexicans  now  when  the  door  is  open,  as  Miss 
Rankin  was  when  the  door  was  closed  ? 

The  last  foreign  mission  of  our  Church  in 
North  America  is  in  Guatemala.  The  oppor- 
tunity for  its  establishment  was  opened  by 
President  Barrios.  He  had  become  President 
in  1872,  and  broke  the  power  of  the 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    NORTH    AMERICA          259 

Jesuits,  declaring  the  order  extinct,  crushing  the 
monasteries,  confiscating  their  property,  and  ban- 
ishing or  killing  many  nuns  and  priests.  In  1873 
he  proclaimed  religious  liberty.  A  correspond- 
ent of  the  New  York  Sun,  who  visited  Guatemala 
several  years  ago,  wrote  with  reference  to  its  pres- 
ent freedom  from  church  control : — 

"  In  Guatemala  City  the  situation  was  remark- 
able. The  government  has  confiscated  church 
property  right  and  left — church  buildings  as  well 
as  convents — and  has  turned  them  into  public 
schools.  The  National  Military  Academy  oc- 
cupied one  of  the  finest  church  properties  in  the 
city,  including  a  whole  block.  It  had  once 
housed  great  colonies  of  cowled  monks  and  nuns, 
and  it  needed  very  little  alteration  to  make  it  a 
comfortable  West  Point  for  the  nation.  In  an- 
other block  that  had  been  taken  from  the  priests, 
I  saw  a  pretty  well  managed  trades  school. 
Weaving  with  a  hand  loom  was  taught  by  a  man 
who  knew  how  to  produce  artistic  effects.  Shoe- 
making  by  hand  was  thoroughly  well  done. 
Cabinet  work  of  a  plain  substantial  character  was 
turned  out.  The  blacksmithing  was  first-rate  in 
ordinary  work,  but  when  the  teacher  got  ambi- 
tious and  turned  out  a  brass  breach-loading  can- 
non mounted  on  a  carriage  of  his  own  design,  he 
got  too  high  above  his  anvil." 

In  1882  Barrios  visited  the  United  States,  and 
while  here  urged  the  Board  to  send  a  rgissionary 
to  Guatemala,  even  agreeing  to  pay  his  expenses 
out  from  America.  The  first  missionary  was  sent 
the  same  year.  The  force  has  never  been  large, 
and  there  have  been  some  serious  disappointments 
in  the  work. 

The  population  of  Guatemala  is  "about  a 
million  and  a  quarter.  Of  these  about  180,000 
are  whites,  largely  Spaniards,  300,000  are 


260  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Ladinos,  or  of  mixed  blood,  and  the  remainder 
are  indigenous  races,  the  so-called  Indians. 
Many  of  these  are  descendants  of  the  ancient 
Toltecs,  who  were  driven  by  the  Aztecs  from 
Mexico,  and  whose  civilization  has  left  many  in- 
teresting monuments  in  Guatemala.  These 
Indies  of  the  present  day  are  described  as  a 
peaceable,  docile,  honest  and  cleanly  race ;  not 
warlike  but  an  agricultural  people ;  not  nomadic, 
but  living  in  villages  ;  not  savage,  but  semi-civi- 
lized ;  tilling  the  soil,  weaving  cloth,  making  pot- 
tery and  building  houses.  They  are  so  honest 
and  peaceable  that  Central  America  is  the  safest 
place  in  the  world  in  which  to  travel,  and  alto- 
gether, to  an  American,  with  our  idea  of  the 
Indian  as  a  painted  savage,  they  are  quite  an  at- 
tractive people.  But  they,  poor  things,  are  the 
'  beasts  of  burden  '  of  the  country,  pack  mules 
being  so  rare  that  almost  everything  is  transported 
on  Indian  backs,  and  the  amount  they  carry  is 
wonderful.  The  burden  is  placed  in  a  wooden 
cage  or  basket,  to  which  a  strap  is  attached  and 
passed  around  the  head,  so  that  the  weight  comes 
upon  the  forehead.  In  this  manner,  with  a 
weight  of  over  a  hundred  pounds,  they  trot  off 
at  a  queer  but  rapid  pace,  making  twenty  or 
twenty-five  miles  a  day,  and  for  this  arduous 
work  they  are  never  paid  more  than  a  real 
(twelve  and  a  half  cents)  a  day.  The  upper 
classes,  o£  more  or  less  pure  Spanish  blood,  are 
characteristically  Spanish  in  customs  and  ideas. 
The  evil  effects  of  three  centuries  of  tyranny  and 
absolute  rule  are  nowhere  more  evident  than  in 
the  character  of  the  dominant  race.  With  all 
the  charm  of  Spanish  courtesy  and  hospitality, 
the  most  charitable  critics  cannot  deny  that  the 
moral  tone  of  society  is  very  lax,  and  vice  ram- 
pant and  respectable.  Gambling  prevails  to  an 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    NORTH    AMERICA          26 1 

alarming  extent ;  men  and  women  are  inveterate 
smokers,  boys  sometimes  beginning  this  habit  at 
three  or  four  years  of  age.  '  The  family  relation,' 
writes  Mr.  Haymaker,  '  is  a  mere  form  for  those 
who  wish  to  keep  it  up.  Flagrant  violations  of 
the  seventh  commandment  in  one  form  or  another 
are  more  than  common  among  the  lower  classes — 
they  are  general.  Equal  to  this  evil,  if  not  worse, 
is  the  crime  of  drunkenness,  which  among  the 
poor  is  all  but  universal,  including  among  its 
victims  not  men  only,  but  also  women  and  grow- 
ing boys.'  A  startling  degree  of  ignorance  pre- 
vails throughout  the  country.  A  few  years  ago 
the  percentage  of  illiteracy  was  estimated  at 
ninety  per  cent,  but  this  has  been  much  dimin- 
ished of  late  through  the  system  of  public  and 
compulsory  education."1 

Guatemala  has  been  peculiarly  the  exclusive 
field  of  our  own  Church.  If  any  are  to  be 
held  responsible  for  the  people's  ignorance  of 
the  gospel,  we  shall  be.  There  are  only  two 
ordained  men  of  our  Church  in  the  country. 
Within  a  radius  of  seventy-five  miles  are  fifteen 
towns,  with  populations  of  from  5,000  to  25,000, 
with  no  missionary  resident  in  them,  and  the  pure 
gospel  seldom  mentioned  by  them.  Is  it  enough 
that  we  should  think  of  those  of  our  own  house- 
hold and  of  the  stranger  of  distant  continents, 
and  overlook  the  need  of  the  poor  lands  lying 
before  our  door  ? 

1  Church  at  Home  and  Abroad,  March  '93,  p.  193  f. 


THE  MISSIONS  IN  SOUTH  AMERICA 


263 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE    MISSIONS    IN    SOUTH    AMERICA 

WHILE  the  world  is  the  field  for  all  Christians 
and  Christian  nations,  there  are  special  fields  for 
each.  In  a  peculiar  degree  Great  Britain  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  evangelization  of  India,  France 
for  the  evangelization  of  the  Niger  Valley,  while 
we  have  confessed  our  responsibility  for  the  na- 
tions to  the  south  of  us  by  the  famous  declaration 
of  President  Monroe  in  his  annual  message  to  the 
Eighteenth  Congress,  on  December  2d,  1823 : 
"  With  the  governments  which  have  declared 
their  independence  and  maintained  it,  and  whose 
independence  we  have  on  great  consideration 
and  just  principles  acknowledged,  we  could  not 
view  an  interposition  for  oppressing  them  or  con- 
trolling in  any  other  manner  their  destiny  by  any 
European  power  in  any  other  light  than  as  a 
manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  toward 
the  United  States."  This  assumption  of  political 
responsibility,  as  the  tutelary  power  of  this  hemis- 
phere, we  have  at  no  small  pains  maintained. 
But  by  it  we  have  made  ourselves  responsible  for 
much  more  than  the  independence  of  the  Ameri- 
can republics  from  European  invasion.  We 
have  charged  ourselves  publicly  with  the  obliga- 
tion of  giving  to  these  neighbors  the  only  secret 
of  stability  and  strength  for  free  nations.  This 
at  least  the  Christian  man  dare  not  refrain  from 
reading  into  the  Monroe  doctrine,  as,  in  its  highest 
sense,  a  missionary  declaration.  If  there  are  any 
265 


266  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN   MISSIONS 

special  duties  in  this  world,  our  duty  to  evangelize 
South  America  is  one  of  them. 

But  does  South  America  need  to  be  evangel- 
ized? Is  not  Christianity  known  there?  In  a 
sense,  yes ;  in  a  larger  sense,  no.  It  is  not  known 
as  a  spiritual  religion.  "Romanism,"  writes 
Mr.  Blackford,  "after  300  years  of  undisputed, 
uninfluenced  power  over  the  education  and  re- 
ligion of  the  Indians,  negroes,  and  amalgamated 
masses,  of  South  America,  has  left  them  little'bet- 
ter  than  pagans,  with  an  admixture  of  papal 
forms  based  in  Christianity."1  It  is  not  known 
as  a  moral  power,  although  no  church  has  ever 
had  so  long  and  unchallenged  influence  in  any  land 
as  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  had  in  South 
America.  The  Plenary  Council  of  Latin  America, 
held  in  Rome  in  1899,  in  its  decrees  regarding 
South  America,  declared,  "Greatly  to  be  de- 
plored and  condemned  is  that  infection  of  forni- 
cation far  and  wide  diffused,  but  especially  the 
most  infamous  pest  of  concubinage  which,  spread- 
ing publicly  and  privately,  whether  in  great  states 
or  in  humble  villages,  brings  not  a  few  people  of 
all  conditions  to  eternal  destruction."  It  is  not 
known  as  a  force  of  social  progress  and  political 
righteousness.  "  The  whole  apparatus  of  republi- 
canism in  these  countries  is  a  farce,"  says  Mr. 
Theodore  Child  in  The  Spanish  American  Re- 
publics (p.  329),  "and  in  spite  of  the  sonorous 
speeches  of  after-dinner  orators,  they  have 
not  yet  begun  to  enjoy  even  the  most  elementary 
political  liberty.  A  brief  glance  at  the  past  his- 
tory of  the  South  American  republics  will  explain 
why  this  is  so.  For  convenience'  sake  we  will 
take  the  Argentine  as  an  example,  the  history  of 
the  others  being  in  all  essential  points  analogous 
and  parallel.  After  the  separation  from  Spain  in 
1  The  Neglected  Continent,  p.  79. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    SOUTH    AMERICA  267 

1810,  the  Argentines,  prepared  by  three  centuries 
of  Spanish  domination  to  look  to  their  rulers  for 
everything,  and  to  dispense  with  initiative  of  all 
kinds  in  the  organization  and  administration  of 
their  national  and  economical  life,  were  at  a  loss 
what  use  to  make  of  their  newly-acquired  liberty. 
They  were  free  citizens,  but  they  did  not  know 
what  citizenship  means.  They  had  vague  ideas 
of  their  rights,  but  no  idea  of  their  duties — a 
condition,  by  the  way,  in  which  they  have  re- 
mained to  the  present  day,  therein  resembling 
very  closely  the  French,  who  have  spent  a  whole 
century  in  learning  that  citizens  of  a  republic 
have  duties  as  well  as  rights,  and  that  the  citizen 
who  values  his  rights  and  desires  to  retain  them 
intact  must  give  himself  the  pains  to  be  continu- 
ously and  zealously  an  active  voting  citizen. 
However,  from  1800  onward  the  Argentines 
passed  through  a  long  period  of  revolutions  until 
1852,  when  the  nation  seemed  at  length  to  have 
achieved  pacific  possession  of  its  destinies ;  but 
being  still  without  the  practical  and  self-reliant 
spirit  of  democracy,  it  sought  support  as  an  ex- 
ample for  a  future  history  in  the  past  experience 
of  the  United  States.  Thus  the  text  of  the 
American  Constitution  and  its  federative  doc- 
trines were  adopted,  and  the  political  heroes  and 
jurisconsults  of  the  United  States  acquired  new 
admirers  and  new  disciples  south  of  the  equator. 
The  modern  Argentine  Republic  found  its  salva- 
tion in  imitation,  but  the  salvation  has  not  been 
complete,  because  the  imitation  of  North  Ameri- 
can institutions  has  been  in  the  letter  rather  than 
in  the  spirit.  .  .  .  The  Argentines  have  elimi- 
nated virtue  from  their  democracy;  they  have 
forgotten  that  they  ever  had  souls ;  and  yet  they 
talk  of  their  greatness  and  revel  in  prodigious 
statistics.  But  in  what  does  a  nation's  greatness 


268  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN   MISSIONS 

consist  ?  To  quote  the  words  of  James  Anthony 
Froude,  in  his  Oceana :  '  Whether  [a  nation]  be 
great  or  little  depends  entirely  on  the  sort  of  men 
and  women  that  it  is  producing.  A  sound  nation 
is  a  nation  that  is  composed  of  sound  human  be- 
ings, healthy  in  body,  strong  of  limb,  true  in 
word  and  deed — brave,  sober,  temperate,  chaste, 
to  whom  morals  are  of  more  importance  than 
wealth  or  knowledge — where  duty  is  first  and  the 
rights  of  man  are  second — where,  in  short,  men 
grow  up  and  live  and  work,  having  in  them 
what  our  ancestors  called  'the  fear  of  God.'1 
And  that  fear  of  God  Romanism  has  not  supplied 
in  all  these  centuries  of  domination.  It  has  given 
South  America  neither  the  religion,  the  ethics,  nor 
the  politics,  of  the  Bible. 

Sometimes  it  is  said  that  South  America  is 
backward  and  politically  dilapidated  because  of 
the  character  of  the  people,  not  because  of  their 
religion.  Dr.  Lane,  of  the  Brazil  Mission,  has 
answered  this  view:  "Much  has  been  written 
about  the  decline  of  the  Latin  races,  as  if  certain 
races  were  doomed  because  of  their  ancestors. 
It  would  be  a  monstrous  thing,  from  a  Christian 
standpoint,  if  a  nation  or  an  individual  must 
fall  behind  in  the  race  of  life  under  the  fatal  in- 
fluence of  the  blood  in  their  veins.  We  do  not 
believe  it,  but  agree  with  Emil  de  Lavelye,  who 
wrote  on  the  subject  some  twenty-five  years  ago, 
that  it  is  rather  a  question  of  religion  than  of  race. 
Centuries  of  wrong  thinking — acting  from  wrong 
motives,  the  effects  of  vicious  education  or  no 
education,  will  make  the  people  of  any  race  weak  ; 
but  there  is  in  an  education  based  upon  the  princi- 
ple of  &pure  Christianity  that  which  will  make  the 
people  of  any  race  strong  ;  the  power  of  Truth  in 
God's  word,  on  the  intellects  and  hearts  of  men, 
will  regenerate  a  nation  as  surely  as  it  will  an 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    SOUTH    AMERICA  269 

individual,  purify  its  politics  and  straighten  out 
its  finances."  l 

The  history  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 
South  America  fully  justifies  the  stern  judgment 
of  Dr.  Blackford,  who,  for  nearly  twenty  years, 
worked  under  her  shadow  in  Brazil.  "It  is  not 
necessary  to  speak  of  Romanism  as  a  system  of 
ecclesiasticism,  except  to  say  that  wherever  it  has 
become  the  faith  of  a  people  it  has  in  some  way 
deprived  the  gospel  of  its  transforming  and  sanc- 
tifying power,  it  has  interfered  with  liberty  of 
conscience,  it  has  trampled  under  foot  the  rights 
of  men,  it  has  subsidized  everything  it  could 
grasp  for  its  own  aggrandizement,  and  has  seized 
upon  the  control  of  education  and  the  reins  of 
political  influence.  As  a  religion  it  has  ignored 
the  simplicity  of  the  gospel,  corrupted  and  de- 
graded many  of  the  doctrines  of  the  cross,  and 
adapted  itself  to  the  human  heart  by  pandering  to 
its  pride  and  self-seeking  by  means  of  penances 
and  meritorious  deeds.  As  a  Church  it  is  bitter, 
relentless  and  persecuting  toward  others,  and  in 
itself  it  is  the  monopoly  of  pride  and  arrogance, 
worldliness  and  error,  idolatry  and  superstition."  '* 

What  Mr.  Child  says  about  the  Argentine  Re- 
public, one  of  the  most  progressive  of  the  South 
American  states,  is  of  special  interest,  because  the 
first  missionary  work  of  our  Church  in  South 
America  was  undertaken  in  Buenos  Ayres,  in 
1827.  The  disturbed  state  of  opinion  in  the 
Argentine,  ill  health  and  the  inability  of  the 
Board  to  find  suitable  men  to  send  out  led  to 
the  discontinuance  of  the  Mission,  awaiting  the 
changes  of  time  and  "  the  improvement  of  an 
ignorant  and  deeply  depraved  population."  From 
1853  to  1859,  a  missionary,  who  was  a  French- 

1  The  Brazilian  Bulletin,  Vol.  L,  No.  I,  p.  4. 
'*  Historical  Sketches,  old  edition,  p.  288. 


270  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

man  by  birth,  was  supported  at  Buenos  Ayres,  but 
when  he  accepted  a  position  in  a  college,  no  one 
was  sent  to  take  his  place. 

The  first  permanent  mission  in  South  America 
was  commenced  in  1856  at  Bogota,  in  what  was 
then  New  Granada,  by  the  Rev.  H.  B.  Pratt, 
who  is  still  living  and  working  actively  near  New 
York  City.  While  in  some  respects  Colombia 
has  advanced,  in  others  what  the  Rev.  M.  W. 
Graham,  of  Bogota,  describes  as  the  condition  of 
the  country  now  was  its  condition  then  : — 

"The  Church  has  almost  destroyed  the  public 
school  system,  and  the  government  suppresses 
private  schools  in  which  Liberal  sentiments  pre- 
vail. Charities,  whether  administered  by  the 
State  or  by  private  organizations,  are  inadequate 
and  inefficient.  Begging  is  a  fine  art,  and  pau- 
perism a  profession.  Leprosy  abounds.  The 
number  of  lepers  is  estimated  at  27,000. 

"An  outward  conformity  to  religious  observances 
and  an  inward  depravity  of  heart  are  compatible 
in  human  nature,  and  are  very  real  facts  here. 
Gambling  is  an  amusement  universally  popular,  a 
fashionable  vice,  and  in  the  form  of  lotteries  a 
business,  to  which  even  the  Church  lends  itself. 
Intemperance  is  a  crying  evil.  The  wayside 
saloon  and  the  corner  liquor  store  are  as  ubiqui- 
tous here  as  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  The 
social  evil  flourishes.  Concubinage  is  widely 
practiced,  and  has  some  legal  recognition.  In 
Bogota  the  illegitimate  births  usually  outnumber 
the  legitimate,  and  in  Barranquilla  for  several 
years  past  they  have  been  three-fourths  of  the 
whole  number.  Marriage  is  made  difficult,  and 
outside  of  the  Catholic  Church  is  almost  impossi- 
ble. A  licentious  priesthood,  heedless  of  moral 
restraints  but  jealous  for  ecclesiastical  authority, 
set  the  standard  for  the  people.  Their  opposi- 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    SOUTH    AMERICA  271 

tion  to  evangelical  truth  is  strong.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Bogota,  who  by  his  pastoral  letter 
placed  under  condemnation  of  mortal  sin  all 
who  should  attend  Protestant  services  or  funerals, 
go  to  the  Protestant  schools  or  read  their  books 
or  papers,  is  the  same  one  who  tried  to  secure 
the  insertion  in  the  last  postal  treaty  with 
the  United  States  of  a  clause  forbidding  the 
transmission  of  Protestant  Bibles  and  religious 
books.  Popular  ignorance  of  the  way  of  salva- 
tion through  Christ,  deep-seated  superstitions,  and 
undisguised  idolatry  in  the  worship  of  the  Virgin 
and  the  saints,  are  characteristic  features  of  the 
religious  life  of  Colombia." 

The  work  of  the  Mission  was  confined  for  more 
than  thirty  years  to  Bogota.  In  1888  Barran- 
quilla  was  occupied,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Magda- 
lena  River,  and  in  1899,  Medellin.  In  1897 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pond  were  located  at  Caracas,  in 
Venezuela,  though  without  the  intention  of  per- 
manently establishing  a  mission  in  Venezuela. 
Schools  in  all  the  stations  in  Colombia,  and 
preaching  in  the  churches,  and  general  visitation, 
have  been  the  chief  agencies  in  the  work.  There 
have  been  great  difficulties.  "  The  bitter  opposi- 
tion of  the  priests  is  less  harmful  than  the  apathy 
and  irreligion  of  the  people.  The  intelligent 
classes  are  largely  indifferent  or  skeptical ;  the 
poorer  people  appallingly  ignorant.  It  is  not  un- 
usual for  men  to  come  asking  the  missionary  to 
buy  their  souls  for  money,  which  the  priests  tell 
them  he  is  commissioned  by  the  devil  to  do. 
The  unsettled  political  condition  of  the  country, 
with  the  frequent  revolutionary  disturbances,  is 
also  a  great  drawback."1  Mrs.  Pond  has  set 
forth  some  of  the  discouraging  aspects  of  the  work 
in  Barranquilla  :  — 

1  Historical  Sketches,  p.  336. 


272  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

"  In  Barranquilla  the  people  are  not  bigoted  as 
in  Bogota  and  other  interior  towns,  but  atheism, 
indifference,  and  superstition,  are  harder  to  over- 
come. I  have  been  asked,  '  Is  not  the  Catholic 
religion  good  enough  for  those  people  ? '  The 
truth  is,  they  are  not  acknowledged  as  Catholics 
by  those  Catholics  who  come  from  Europe  and  the 
States.  They  say,  '  These  people  are  not  Catho- 
lics— they  are  heathen.'1  I  have  no  words  with 
which  to  picture  the  degradation,  the  horror,  of 
these  lives,  and  it  is  none  the  less  sad  that  many 
of  them  are  content  to  live  in  sin  and  misery. 
The  priests  are  vile  men,  and  known  to  be  so. 
One  who  died  in  Barranquilla,  some  years  ago, 
left  bequests  to  fifty  children  whom  he  acknowl- 
edged as  his  own.  Grown  men  and  women, 
now,  they  go  by  his  name.  I  have  heard  of 
churches  in  the  country  being  used  as  places  for 
cockfights,  in  which  priests,  as  well  as  people, 
delight.  The  religion  of  priests  and  people  con- 
sists in  shows  and  ceremonies,  and  those  who 
take  part  in  the  processions  of  Good  Friday  and 
Easter  are  assured  of  forgiveness  for  all  the  sins 
committed  during  the  year,  and  lay  up  for  them- 
selves merit,  especially  if  they  can  bear  some 
weight  of  the  heavy  platform  on  which  is  carried 
the  image  of  Christ." 

Colombia  is  not  as  completely  under  the  do- 
minion of  the  Roman  Church  as  Ecuador.  The 
Roman  Catholic  religion  is  established  by  law, 
but  other  religions  are  permitted  so  long  as  their 
exercise  "is  not  contrary  to  Christian  morals  or 
the  law."  But  in  many  ways  the  missionaries 
can  be  hampered.  They  are  hampered  most  by 
the  fact  that  they  are  so  few,  seven  ordained  men 
and  twelve  women  to  reach  4,000,000  people, 
another  parish  committed  almost  wholly  to  the 
Presbyterian  Church. 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    SOUTH    AMERICA  273 

The  next  mission  planted  in  South  America 
was  opened  in  1859  in  Brazil,  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Rev.  A.  G.  Simonton.  Three  hun- 
dred years  before,  the  first  effort  of  the  Reformed 
Church  to  engage  in  foreign  missions  was  made 
in  behalf  of  Brazil.  Park  man  tells  the  story  of  it 
in  The  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World. 
After  the  ruin  of  the  colony,  some  of  the  colo- 
nists who  did  not  return  to  Europe,  fled  to  the  In- 
dians and  the  Portuguese.  One  of  the  latter  was 
a  Huguenot  preacher  named  Boles,  who  pro- 
claimed his  faith  with  great  eloquence  and  suc- 
cess, and  who,  after  lying  in  prison  in  Bahia  for 
eight  years,  was  put  to  death  on  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  Rio  de  Janeiro.  "The  blood  of 
John  Boles,"  wrote  Mr.  Blackford,  '-and  his 
faithful  fellow-servants,  who  were  there  slain  for 
the  testimony  of  Jesus,  has  been  crying  to  God 
from  those  shores  for  over  three  hundred  years ; 
crying,  not  for  vengeance  on  their  persecutors, 
but  for  mercy  to  their  descendants;  that  cry 
comes  still  to-day  to  the  descendants  of  the  Hu- 
guenots in  this  land,  and  to  all  who,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  have  obtained  a  like  precious  faith,  be- 
seeching them  to  carry  the  light  of  the  gospel  to 
that  beautiful  land,  over  which  the  darkness  of 
Romanism  has  hung  like  the  shadow  of  death  for 
three  centuries."  l 

From  1531  to  1822  Brazil  was  a  dependency 
of  Portugal.  In  that  year  the  son  of  the  King  of 
Portugal  proclaimed  the  independence  of  the 
country,  and  became  the  first  Emperor.  His  son 
succeeded  him,  and  after  a  visit  to  the  United 
States  in  1876,  went  home  to  plan  liberal  and 
progressive  measures  for  his  country.  After  a 
fairly  progressive  reign,  a  revolution,  without 
bloodshed,  in  1889,  made  him  an  exile,  and  Bra- 
1  Blackford,  Sketch  of  the  Brazil  Missions,  p.  7. 


274  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

zil  a  republic,  with  a  constitution  which  substi- 
tuted for  the  old  clause  tolerating  the  worship  in 
private  houses  of  other  than  the  Roman  Catholic 
churches,  guarantees  of  complete  religious  lib- 
erty, allowing  to  all  liberty  of  worship  public  and 
private,  and  forbidding  all  alliance  between 
Church  and  State. 

Even  under  Dom  Pedro  II,  however,  the  mis- 
sion work  had  become  widely  extended.  Mr. 
Simonton  was  one  man  among  ten  thousand  to 
establish  such  a  work.  The  condition  in  which 
he  found  religion  in  Brazil  is  indicated  in  one  of 
his  earliest  statements.  "To  my  mind  the  most 
astonishing  feature  of  the  religious  condition  of 
Brazil  is  its  almost  total  lack  of  all  religion.  Un- 
less I  am  mistaken,  Brazil  is  singular  in  this  re- 
spect, even  among  the  most  thoroughly  Roman 
Catholic  nations.  Not  only  has  religion  degen- 
erated from  being  a  thing  of  conviction  to  a  mere 
habit,  but  it  has  become  a  habit  to  pay  no  atten- 
tion to  its  outward  forms.  The  number  of  church- 
goers is  very  small.  Confession  is  falling  into 
disuse.  Priests  are  dissolute,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  scoffers.  A  pure  and  universal  indiffer- 
ence seems  to  reign.  The  extremity  of  the  Pope 
has  produced  no  public  prayers,  and  Garibaldi 
and  Cavour  are  heroes.  It  is  said  that  no  people 
can  be  without  a  religion  ;  if  so,  nations  cannot 
be  much  more  destitute  than  Brazil.  There  are 
special  occasions,  however,  which  show  that  he 
would  be  greatly  deceived  who  imagined  that 
their  religion  is  like  that  which  is  found  in  Prot- 
estant countries.  At  times  they  become  religious. 
One  of  these  times  is  the  hour  of  death.  Then 
the  priest  is  sure  of  employment  and  pay.  Con- 
fession, absolution,  the  sacrament,  and  extreme 
unction,  are  the  sources  of  trust  in  that  hour  when 
all  men  would  be  religious  if  they  could." 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    SOUTH    AMERICA  275 

After  acquiring  the  language  Mr.  Simonton 
opened  a  place  for  preaching  in  Portuguese  in 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  in  May,  1861.  "It  was  a  small 
room  in  the  third  story  of  a  house  in  one  of  the 
narrow  central  streets  of  that  great  city.  His 
first  audience  consisted  of  two  men  to  whom  he 
had  been  giving  instruction  in  English.  They 
attended  as  an  act  of  courtesy  to  their  teacher. 
They  were  interested,  and  at  the  next  meeting 
brought  a  companion  with  them.  At  a  third  meet- 
ing half  a  dozen  were  present ;  and  thus  for  some 
time  the  number  gradually  increased  ;  in  fine,  the 
work  has  gone  steadily  on  from  that  day  to  this."  l 

In  1863  the  city  of  Sao  Paulo  was  occupied  by 
Mr.  Blackford,  but  for  nearly  twenty-five  years 
the  field  was  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  -G.  W. 
Chamberlain,  D.  D.,  who  has  preached  the  gos- 
pel far  and  wide  in  Brazil,  with  a  zeal  and  a 
fidelity  which  have  not  abated  with  the  years. 
The  State  of  Sao  Paulo  is  the  wealthiest  and  most 
enterprising  State  in  Brazil,  and  its  coffee  trade 
has  been  enormous.  Here  great  mission  schools 
have  been  built  up,  with  an  attendance  of  500 
pupils  covering  all  grades  from  kindergarten  to 
college  department,  all  organized  now  under  a 
separate  Board  of  Trustees,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Beirut  College.  Many  self-supporting  churches 
have  been  built  up  in  the  Synod,  and  the  churches 
have  given  liberally  besides  to  home  mission  work 
and  to  the  equipment  of  a  theological  seminary. 
The  coffee  trade  has  not  been  so  prosperous  lately, 
but  in  1889  the  British  Consul  at  Santos,  the  port 
of  Sao  Paulo,  said  in  his  report  to  his  Foreign 
Office  :  "  Taken  conjointly  with  the  export  trade, 
the  monetary  value  of  the  over-sea  traffic  of  the 
Province  the  past  year  shows  a  grand  total  of 
about  £ 1 2,000,000  ;  or,  approximately,  thirty  per 
1  Blackford,  Brazil  Mission,  p.  8. 


276  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

cent  of  the  value  of  the  trade  of  the  whole  Em- 
pire of  Brazil.  No  other  country  in  the  world, 
with  a  population  of  barely  1,500,000  inhabitants 
has  ever  attained  a  like  degree  of  prosperity." 

The  mission  work  of  our  Church  extends  over 
the  States  of  Sao  Paulo,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Santa 
Catharina  and  Parana  in  the  south,  and  over  the 
State  of  Sergipe,  and  the  great  State  of  Bahia  in 
Central  Brazil.  The  Southern  Presbyterians  are 
working  in  other  States,  and  with  our  own  mis- 
sionaries have  joined  in  establishing  one  united 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Brazil,  which  is  inde- 
pendent of  the  churches  in  America. 

The  gospel  spread  of  its  own  power  in  many 
parts  of  the  land.  In  Brotas,  a  town  about  170 
miles  northwest  from  Sao  Paulo,  was  a  priest  who, 
before  he  was  excommunicated  from  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  had  been  teaching  evangelical 
truth  in  his  church.  The  Mission  sent  him  books 
and  Scriptures,  which  he  distributed,  and  in  1865, 
after  repeated  calls,  some  of  the  missionaries 
went  to  visit  him.  "  It  was  a  tedious  and  labor- 
ious journey,"  one  of  them  wrote,  "on  horseback 
or  muleback,  over  rough  roads  and  sometimes 
through  mere  bridle  paths.  The  mode  of  work 
was  to  go  from  neighborhood  to  neighborhood  and 
from  house  to  house,  preaching,  reading,  and 
expounding  the  Bible.  The  Spirit  of  God  had 
been  there  preparing  the  way,  and  was  present  to 
seal  his  word  on  the  hearts  of  men.  The  truth 
took  deep  hold  on  those  rustic  but  intelligent 
minds.  Desperadoes  who  had  been  the  terror 
of  their  neighborhoods  sat  meekly  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus ;  men  and  families  who  had  sunk  very  low 
in  ignorance  and  corruption  were  saved  and  lifted 
up.  In  November  of  the  same  year,  1865,  a 
church  was  organized  there,  consisting  of  eleven 
converts  from  Rome  who  were  baptized  into  the 


THE    MISSIONS    IN    SOUTH    AMERICA  277 

name  of  Christ.  The  meeting  at  which  that 
church  was  organized  was  held  in  a  rude  hut, 
made  by  planting  poles  or  rails  in  the  ground  and 
covering  it  over  with  grass."  Nine  churches 
grew  out  of  that  little  church  at  Brotas,  and  more* 
than  a  thousand  were  received  into  these  various 
churches  as  a  result. 

At  Botucatu,  not  far  from  Brotas,  one  of  the 
early  converts  built  at  his  own  expense  a  chapel 
and  residence  for  a  missionary,  and  furnished  a 
large  school  building,  and  at  his  death  bequeathed 
additional  property  and  considerable  endowment 
for  the  school.  Curityba,  300  miles  southwest  of 
Sao  Paulo,  has  been  the  center  of  wide-reaching 
work  through  Parana  and  Santa  Catharina,  and 
the  same  spirit  of  self-help  has  characterized  it. 
Miss  Dascomb  and  Miss  Kuhl,  who  have  worked 
with  great  tact  and  efficiency  in  the  mission  for 
nearly  thirty  years,  have  had  charge  of  the  suc- 
cessful girls'  school  in  Curityba  since  1892.  No 
women  have  done  more  to  help  the  women  of 
Brazil.  Both  had  been  successful  teachers  in 
America,  Miss  Dascomb  having  taught  at  Vassar 
and  Wellesley. 

Of  the  women  of  Brazil,  Mrs.  Agassiz  wrote : 
"Among  my  own  sex  I  have  never  seen  such  sad 
lives — lives  deprived  of  healthy,  invigorating 
happiness,  intolerably  monotonous,  inactive,  stag- 
nant." The  women  of  Brazil,  however,  seem  to 
have  maintained  higher,  more  wholesome  tone 
than  the  women  of  any  other  South  American 
State,  yet,  as  Dr.  Lane  says,  "  Brazil  inherited 
from  Portugal  a  social  system  which  regarded 
woman  as  a  mere  incident  in  man's  affairs ;  an 
appendix,  a  pleasant  device  for  his  gratification 
and  use,  a  necessary  and  perhaps  wise  enough 
provision  for  perpetuating  the  race,  but  always 
subordinate  and  inferior.  Man,  under  the  old 


278  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

regime,  was  lord  and  master,  disposing  of  his 
daughters  in  marriage  as  business  interest  or  con- 
venience dictated.  The  wife  was  in  complete 
subjection,  and  the  females  of  the  family  were 
guarded  with  Turkish  jealousy.  If  any  degree 
of  deference  or  respect  was  shown  woman,  it  did 
not  grow  out  of  a  recognition  of  her  rights  or  an 
elevated  conception  of  her  character,  but  rather 
a  regard  for  the  rights  of  some  man  to  her  and 
her  services.  In  old  colonial  times  she  can  hardly 
be  said  to  have  had  separate  existence.  After 
separation  from  Portugal,  the  condition  of  woman 
began  to  improve.  Still,  less  than  three  decades 
ago,  it  was  a  common  thing  for  men  to  lock  their 
wives  and  daughters  securely  in  the  upper  story 
of  the  house  when  they  went  to  business,  or  if 
they  were  to  be  absent  any  length  of  time  to  de- 
liver them  to  a  convent  for  safe-keeping.  .  .  .  All 
this  has  been  changed  in  New  Brazil  and  the 
'woman  question'  has  come  to  the  front ;  already 
we  have  several  women's  journals;  she  has  in- 
vaded literature,  business  and  professional  life, 
and  has  entered  many  of  the  walks  of  life  sup- 
posed to  belong  exclusively  to  men."  l 

The  Sao  Paulo  schools  are  coeducational. 
The  plan  has  been  wholly  satisfactory,  and  one 
of  the  most  promising  and  powerful  agencies  at 
work  in  Brazil  is  the  Brazilian  woman,  whose 
life  has  been  broadened  by  the  gospel  and  her 
mind  quickened  by  its  truth,  and  who  has  felt 
the  transforming  influence  of  the  mission  work. 

The  most  difficult  field  in  the  Brazil  Mission 
is  the  State  of  Bahia,  which  with  Sergipe  and  Per- 
nambuco  constitute  the  Central  Brazil  Mission  as 
distinguished  from  the  Southern  Brazil  Mission. 
After  John  Boles,  no  Protestant  preached  the 
gospel  in  Bahia  until  in  1805.  Henry  Martyn,  on 
1  The  Brazilian  Bulletin,  Vol.  I.,  No.  2,  p.  60. 


THE   MISSIONS   IN    SOUTH    AMERICA  279 

his  way  to  India,  touched  here.  "  The  ardent 
young  soldier  of  the  cross  landed  and  ascended 
to  the  battery  that  overlooks  the  beautiful  Bay  of 
All  Saints.  Amidst  that  charming  scenery  his 
heart  was  burdened,  and  he  sought  relief  in 
prayer.  There,  .riding  at  anchor,  was  the  ship 
that  was  to  carry  him  to  his  distant  field  of 
service;  there,  close  beside  him,  lay  out-spread 
the  city  of  Bahia,  or  San  Salvador,  teeming  with 
churches,  swarming  with  priests,  but  with  tokens 
of  unbelief  or  blind  superstition  on  every  side. 
As  he  gazed  upon  the  scene  he  repeated  the 
hymn  — 

'  O'er  the  gloomy  hills  of  darkness 
Look,  my  soul,  be  still  and  gaze.' 

Before  resuming  his  voyage,  he  found  opportu- 
nities to  enter  the  monasteries,  Vulgate  in  hand, 
and  reason  with  the  priests  out  of  the  Scriptures. 
Fascinated  by  the  tropical  glories  of  coast  and 
interior,  and  keenly  interested  in  the  Portuguese 
dons,  the  Franciscan  friars,  and  the  negro  slaves — 
'What  happy  missionary,'  he  exclaimed,  'shall 
be  sent  to  bear  the  name  of  Christ  to  these  west- 
ern regions  ?  When  shall  this  beautiful  country 
be  delivered  from  idolatry  and  spurious  Christian- 
ity ?  Crosses  there  are  in  abundance,  but  when 
shall  the  doctrine  of  the  Cross  be  held  up?'  "  l 

Bahia  is  the  oldest  city  of  Brazil.  It  was 
founded  in  1549.  The  State  has  great  resources, 
and  the  harbor  is  one  of  the  best  in  South  Amer- 
ica ;  but  the  people  are  unenterprising,  dissolute, 
ignorant  and  indolent.  Bahia  was'  once  head- 
quarters of  the  African  slave  trade,  and  still  feels 
its  accursed  influence.  The  principal  part  of  the 
population  is  the  blacks  and  their  descendants. 

1  The  Neglected  Continent,  p.  88  f. 


280  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

Above  all,  this  is  the  seat  of  the  Archbishopric  of 
Brazil  and  full  of  bigotry  and  fanaticism.  Here 
for  twenty-six  years  the  missionaries  have  strug- 
gled to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  pure  faith,  but 
how  poorly  has  the  Church  fulfilled  Martyn's  long- 
ing in  sending  three  men  to  possess  this  vast  State, 
larger  than  the  State  of  Montana. 

It  is  estimated  that  there  are  1,000,000  Indians 
in  the  interior  of  Brazil,  occupying  about  four- 
fifths  of  the  country  ;  but  as  yet  it  has  been  pos- 
sible to  undertake  little  for  their  evangelization. 

Here  is  a  noble  field  for  the  Church.  "  All 
this  vast  country,"  as  one  of  the  missionaries 
writes,  "  is  open  to  the  Christian  missionary.  In 
one  important  particular,  at  least,  the  mission  prob- 
lem in  Brazil,  and  we  believe  throughout  South 
America,  is  very  different  from  that  in  pagan 
lands.  The  missionary  has  not  to  wean  men 
from  gross  pagan  beliefs,  setting  up  against  them 
the  pure  gospel  of  Christ,  and  win  men  to  a  new 
faith,  but  rather  to  re-Christianize  an  intelligent 
and  highly  civilized  people  whose  Christianity  has 
been  perverted,  and  who  have  lost  sight  of  the 
standards  of  life  found  in  their  own  belief — 
whose  mental  processes  and  moral  natures  have 
been  v/arped  by  centuries  of  wrong  teaching, 
which  has  robbed  society  of  its  ethical  basis  and 
Christianity  of  its  spiritual  significance."  No- 
where else  in  South  America  is  there  such  a  hope- 
ful field.  Can  conscience  rest  easy  under  the 
sense  of  its  neglect  ? 

The  last  of  the  Presbyterian  Missions  in  South 
America,  the  Mission  in  Chili,  was  transferred  to 
the  Board  by  the  American  and  Foreign  Chris- 
tian Union  in  1873.  1 ne  Union  was  an  inter- 
denominational organization,  established  to  carry 
on  mission  work  on  the  Western  Hemisphere. 
As  the  missionary  organizations  of  the  various 


THE    MISSIONS   IN    SOUTH    AMERICA  281 

churches  grew  there  was  ever  less  and  less  inter- 
est taken  in  such  a  general  society,  and  its  work 
has  been  slowly  transferred  to  other  agencies. 

The  great  character  in  the  establishment  of 
Protestant  Missions  in  Chili  was  the  Rev.  David 
Trumbull,  D.  D.,  who  landed  in  Valparaiso  on 
Christmas  Day,  1845,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six. 
He  had  responded  to  an  appeal  of  the  Foreign 
Evangelical  Society  in  behalf  of  the  West  Coast 
of  South  America,  then  without  one  evangelical 
missionary.  Yet  he  went  out  without  fear.  One 
of  his  prayers  on  the  voyage,  as  he  thought  of  his 
home,  fast  receding,  was,  "  May  God  assist  me 
to  a  pure  purpose  of  being  his,  and  of  sincerely 
asking  where  I  can  do  the  most  good,  and  of  go- 
ing freely."  God  heard  and  answered  that  prayer. 
If  ever  a  man  came  to  his  work  in  the  appoint- 
ment and  strength  of  God,  David  Trumbull  did, 
in  Chili.  He  was  a  man  of  radiant  personality, 
genial  and  cordial,  and  a  man  of  great  ability 
and  power.  He  at  once  won  confidence  and 
friendships  in  Valparaiso,  and  built  up  a  strong 
Union  Church  of  foreign  merchants  and  other 
residents,  while  he  reached  out  constantly  toward 
the  evangelization  of  the  Chilians.  Dr.  Trum- 
bull died  in  1889,  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine. 

Two  other  eminently  useful  lives  spent  in  the 
Chili  Mission  were  those  of  the  Rev.  J.  M. 
Allis,  D.  D.,  a  man  of  the  same  genial  and  hearty 
spirit  as  Dr.  Trumbull,  who  died  in  Santiago  in 
1899,  and  of  the  Rev.  Edson  A.  Lowe,  who  died 
in  Santiago  in  1900. 

The  work  which  was  begun  in  Valparaiso,  has 
extended  to  Santiago,  Copiapo,  Chilian,  Talca, 
and  Concepcion.  The  only  boarding  school  in 
the  Mission  is  the  Institute  Ingles  in  Santiago, 
which  enrolls  now  more  than  one  hundred  pupils, 
and  is  exerting  a  widening  influence.  It  has  its 


282  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

difficulties,  however.  Dr.  Browning,  who  is  in 
charge  of  the  school,  suggested  some  of  these  in 
a  recent  report  on  the  school  work  : — 

"One  lady  brought  her  grandson,  and  re- 
quested that  he  be  given  a  certain  brand  of  wine 
at  his  meals,  saying  that  he  had  always  been  ac- 
customed to  it.  Upon  being  told  that  he  could 
have  no  brand  whatever  while  in  the  school,  she 
was  very  much  amazed,  but  agreed  to  let  him 
have  beer  instead.  Upon  learning  that  not  even 
beer  was  allowed  in  the  house,  she  declared  that 
her  boy  could  not  possibly  enter  such  a  place.  It 
was  suggested  to  her,  more  as  a  joke,  that  the 
boy  might  bring  cod  liver  oil,  if  she  wished,  and, 
strange  to  say,  she  took  up  the  suggestion,  and 
sent  the  boy  well  provided  with  '  La  Emulsion  de 
Scott.'  The  school  has  to  deal  with  difficult  prob- 
lems in  the  moral  lives  of  the  boys,  and  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  homes  from  which  they  come. 
The  vice  in  the  homes  of  some  is  almost  beyond  be- 
lief, and  they  are  taught  to  scoff  at  anything  that 
savors  of  purity  of  life  and  thought.  Language 
that  would  in  our  country  mark  a  man  as  anything 
but  a  gentleman  is  here  used  by  so-called  Christian 
mothers,  with  a  lightness  and  freedom  that  would 
appall  a  stranger  to  the  country.  In  the  office  of 
the  Director,  when  boys  are  brought  for  matricula- 
tion, family  skeletons  are  brought  out  and  paraded 
in  all  their  hideousness.  Fathers  tell  in  the  pres- 
ence of  their  sons  of  the  impurity  of  mothers, 
and  mothers  tell  of  the  unfaithfulness  of  fathers. 
With  such  teaching  it  is  not  strange  that  one  of 
the  boys  boasted  of  having  three  sisters,  all  of 
whom  were  leading  low  lives.  Such  may  be  ex- 
treme cases,  but  they  show  the  tendency."  l 

Charges  against  the  character  of  religion  in 
Chili  do  not  emanate  only  from  missionaries. 

1  Annual  Report,  iqoo,  p.  250. 


THE   MISSIONS    IN    SOUTH   AMERICA  283 

Several  years  ago,  Cardinal  Rompolla,  in  behalf 
of  the  Pope,  addressed  an  Encyclical  to  the 
clergy  in  Chili,  charging  them  with  extravagance 
and  other  misdemeanors.  The  Cardinal  Arch- 
bishop of  Santiago  replied  :  — 

"Our  method  of  life  is  not  different  from  that 
of  other  dignitaries  of  the  Church.  Nearly  all 
cardinals  live  in  greater  pomp,  splendor,  and 
grandeur,  than  we  do.  The  Archbishops  of 
Paris,  Madrid,  Berlin,  and  Ireland,  live  in  mag- 
nificent palaces  and  the  greatest  comfort  that 
modern  inventive  skill  has  been  able  to  devise.  ^ 
Their  fine  carriages  are  drawn  by  full-blooded 
horses.  And  then,  the  magnificence  of  the  Vati- 
can by  far  surpasses  that  of  any  European  royal 
palace.  When,  several  years  ago,  we  had  the 
honor  of  visiting  the  fesidence  of  the  successor 
of  St.  Peter,  we  were  completely  overwhelmed  by 
the  oriental  luxury  that  prevailed  there  every- 
where ;  and  the  Cardinal  Treasurer  impressed  it 
most  forcibly  on  our  mind  and  memory  that  we 
should  send  large  contributions  to  the  Holy 
Father.  In  confidence  he  informed  us  that  the 
yearly  outlay  of  the  Papal  Court  reached  the 
enormous  amount  of  800,000,000  francs.  .  .  . 
Then  too,  we  must  take  into  consideration  our 
surroundings.  In  Chili  nobody  is  respected  un- 
less he  is  rich.  Rank  signifies  nothing  without 
money.  Therefore  it  is  necessary  that  the  highest 
representative  of  the  Church  should  expend  large 
sums  of  money,  so  that  our  religion  may  appear 
in  greatest  grandeur  and  be  honored  by  the  people 
accordingly.  And  yet,  incredible  as  this  may 
seem,  in  spite  of  all  our  efforts  in  this  direction, 
the  evil  spirit  is  making  rapid  progress,  and  the 
present  times  can  be  called  the  age  of  Satan,  but 
not  the  age  of  order  or  fear.  Our  method  of  liv- 
ing is  not  more  magnificent  than  that  of  church 


284  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

dignitaries  elsewhere ;  and  we  have  the  purpose 
of  continuing  this  splendor  as  heretofore,  for  the 
purpose  of  unfolding  the  glories  of  the  Church 
and  our  religion  and  for  the  greater  glory  of 
God." 

It  is  fortunate  that  these  ecclesiastics  do  not 
have  it  in  their  power  to  seek  the  glory  of  God 
by  political  oppression  of  Protestantism,  as  well  as 
by  splendor  and  magnificence.  There  is  a  real  re- 
ligious liberty,  and  the  Mission  has  a  charter  which 
provides  that  "those  who  profess  the  Reformed 
Church  religion  according  to  the  doctrines  of 
Holy  Scripture,  may  promote  primary  and  su- 
perior instruction,  according  to  modern  methods 
and  practice,  and  propagate  the  worship  of  their 
belief  obedient  to  the  laws  of  the  land." 

Chili  is  an  alert  and  progressive  land,  as  South 
American  States  go,  and  it  is  an  attractive  coun- 
try. "I  had  no  idea,"  writes  Mr.  Child,  "that 
Chili  was  such  a  pleasant  country  so  far  as  con- 
cerns physical  features,  climate,  and  landscape. 
As  for  the  Chilians,  naturally  I  had  met  some  in 
various  parts  of  the  world.  I  am  convinced,  too, 
that  there  are  agreeable  people  to  be  found  in  all 
lands ;  but  still  I  had  not,  in  the  slightest  degree, 
anticipated  the  comparative  completeness  of  the 
material  organization  of  civilized  life  in  Chili,  the 
general  comfort  and  conveniency  of  existence  in 
the  principal  towns,  the  many  facilities  for  living 
without  friction  and  without  immoderate  effort." 
But  this  is  all  that  can  be  said.  Chili  is  no  nearer 
a  sound  nation  than  the  Argentine,  and  will  never 
be  so  until  that  power  of  the  gospel,  which  alone 
can  create  character  in  a  man  or  a  nation,  does 
its  necessary  work  in  the  Chilian  and  in  Chili. 

1  South  American  Republics,  p.  71. 


THE  MISSION  IN  THE  PHILIPPINES 


285 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   MISSION    IN    THE    PHILIPPINES 

WHEN  the  naval  battle  in  Manila  Bay,  on  May 
ist,  1899,  and  the  Paris  Treaty  transferred  the 
Philippines  to  the  United  States,  the  Church  felt 
at  once  that  she  was  called  to  go  in  and  take  pos- 
session. It  had  not  been  possible  before.  A 
navy  chaplain  was  not  even  allowed  ashore  in 
clerical  dress,  and  the  bodies  of  dead  sailors 
could  only  be  carried  to  a  burial  place  in  a  com- 
mon carriage.  The  government  was  the  mere 
tool  of  the  Romish  Church.  But  the  hatred  of 
the  Filipinos  against  the  Spaniards  was  in  some 
measure  also  a  hatred  of  the  Spanish  representa- 
tives of  Rome,  and  the  Filipino's  desire  for  lib- 
erty was  in  some  measure  a  desire  for  the  freedom 
of  thought  and  life  which  only  Protestantism 
could  bring.  Accordingly,  the  Board  decided  at 
once,  under  the  urgent  pressure  of  the  Church 
and  of  many  friends  who  were  eager  to  give 
money  for  the  establishment  of  work  in  the  Philip- 
pines, to  send  a  mission  there.  In  April,  1899, 
the  Rev.  J.  B.  Rodgers  was  requested  to  remove 
from  Brazil,  where  he  had  worked  for  ten  years, 
to  Manila.  He  has  since  been  joined  by  other 
missionaries,  and  stations  have  been  established  at 
Manila,  Iloilo,  and  Dumaguete,  on  the  islands  re- 
spectively of  Luzon,  Panay,  and  Negros. 

The  work  has  succeeded  beyond  expectation. 
Within  a  year  Mr.  Davidson  was  able  to  write  :  — 

"All  Presbyterians  will  rejoice  to  know  that 
our  Church  is  in  the  forefront  here.  At  the  pres- 
287 


288  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

ent  time  Rev.  James  B.  Rogers,  our  pioneer  mis 
sionary,  is  the  only  missionary  who  is  preaching 
to  the  natives.  He  has  five  or  six  services  in 
Spanish  every  week  in  various  parts  of  the  city, 
and  the  results  of  these  services,  though  not 
great,  are  most  encouraging.  We  have  already  a 
church  organized  with  fifteen  members,  and 
others  are  seeking  admission.  Amongst  -this 
company  of  fifteen  members  are  two  or  three 
whom  we  hope  to  train  for  preachers.  Already 
one  of  those  first  baptized  by  us  has  gone  out  to 
preach,  having  been  ordained  deacon  in  the 
Methodist  Church.  We  have  another  who  wants 
to  go  out  and  preach  for  us,  but  we  fear  to  send 
him  until  he  has  had  a  little  more  instruction. 
He  was  formerly  a  sacristan  in  the  Catholic 
Church.  He  has  already  done  some  preaching. 
Another  young  man,  upon  whom  we  are  count- 
ing a  great  deal,  has  come  to  us  from  Caesar's 
household,  having  formerly  been  in  the  employ 
of  the  Archbishop.  The  first  Sunday  of  the 
month  we  had  a  Communion  service  in  our  mis- 
sion rooms  on  Calle  Sacristia,  and,  as  I  told  my 
colleague,  Mr.  Rodgers,  it  was  worth  coming  all 
the  way  from  America  to  see  that  body  of  Filip- 
ino Christians  seated  around  the  Lord's  Table, 
and  to  look  upon  the  dusky  faces  and  earnest 
black  eyes  of  the  four  who  stood  up  and  boldly 
confessed  Christ." 

Of  the  resources  and  natural  characteristics  of 
the  islands  a  recent  visitor  writes:  "The  Philip- 
pines are  among  the  richest  islands  in  the  world. 
Their  mineral  resources  are  practically  untouched. 
The  soil  is  rich  as  a  garden,  and  even  on  the  land 
longest  under  cultivation  fertilizers  are  not  re- 
quired. Not  more  than  one-third  of  the  arable 
land  in  the  valleys  of  Luzon  has  been  brought 
under  cultivation.  The  mountains  are  rich  in 


THE    MISSION    IN   THE    PHILIPPINES  289 

the  most  valuable  timber  to  be  found  anywhere  in 
the  world.  While  some  of  the' valleys  have  been 
denuded  of  the  forests,  Spanish  official  obstruc- 
tion has  effectually  spared  the  valuable  trees  in 
the  interior.  It  is  not  a  bad  thing  that  it  required 
about  two  years'  effort  and  a  large  fee  in  order  to 
get  a  license  to  fell  a  single  tree,  and  a  heavy 
duty  before  it  could  be  exported. 

"  The  climate  is  a  continual  summer,  and  it  is 
not  unhealthful  for  Europeans.  The  cold  or  dry 
season  is  from  November  to  February,  inclusive  ; 
the  hot  season  from  March  to  June,  and  the  wet 
season  from  July  to  October.  Or,  as  an  old 
resident  said  :  '  We  have  four  months  of  rain, 
four  months  of  dry,  and  four  months  of  anything.' 
The  average  temperature  for  the  year  is  about 
eighty-one  degrees  Fahrenheit.  The  most  com- 
mon diseases  among  Europeans  are  malarial  fever, 
diarrhea,  and  dysentery."  x 

"  Before  the  war  there  were  60,000  Spanish 
officials,  friars,  and  soldiers,  in  the  islands.  The 
Chinese  population  is  85,000,  besides  over  200,- 
ooo  Chinese  Mestizos  or  half-breeds.  Most  of 
the  Chinese  immigrants  come  from  the  city  of 
Amoy,  in  the  'Fuhkien  province;  a  very  small 
proportion,  only  about  five  per  cent  coming  from 
Canton.  There  are  scarcely  any  Chinese  women 
in  the  islands.  In  1886  out  of  a  population  of 
67,000  Chinese,  only  194  were  women.  The 
Chinese  men  almost  without  exception  marry 
Philippine  women,  a  fact  which  accounts  for  the 
large  number  of  Chinese  half-breeds.  In  Manila 
they  form  about  one-sixth  of  the  population.  As 
a  class  they  are  more  cunning  and  treacherous 
than  the  pure  natives.  The  Spanish  half-breeds 
and  Creoles  form  a  distinct  class,  as  well  as  an  in- 
fluential one.  Formerly  the  Spanish  Government 

1  Hible    Work  in  the  Philippines,  p.  5. 


2QO  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

encouraged  marriages  between  Spaniards  and  na- 
tive women,  and  such  alliances  are  quite  com- 
mon. The  Spanish  Mestizos,  like  all  Eurasians, 
are  more  shrewd  and  intellectual  than  the  pure 
Asiatic,  but  they  are  more  suspicious  and  vacillat- 
ing, and  seem  to  have  inherited  the  worst  traits  of 
both  ,  races.  Among  the  native  population  the 
Tagals  are  the  principal  tribe  in  Luzon,  and  the 
Visayas  of  the  southern  islands. 

"  In  the  mountains  of  nearly  every  one  of  the 
inhabited  islands,  native  races  are  to  be  met  with 
which  are  supposed  to  be  the  aboriginal  inhabi- 
tants. They  have  not  been  subdued  by  the 
Spanish  conquerors  of  the  islands,  and  even  in 
Luzon  there  are  some  of  these  tribes  which  have 
never  so  much  as  heard  of  the  Spaniards.  The 
Negritos  are  to  be  found  in  most  of  the  islands. 
They  are  a  very  low  type,  both  intellectually  and 
physically,  and  will  probably  disappear  before  the 
advance  of  civilization.  The  Igorrotes  are  the 
chief  mountain  tribe  in  Luzon.  They  are  per- 
haps the  best  of  the  aboriginal  races.  They  are 
very  tenacious  of  their  beliefs,  and  after  repeated 
efforts  the  Spaniards  abandoned  the  idea  of  sub- 
duing them  as  an  impossibility.  There  are  a 
number  of  Igorrote  Chinese,  who  are  supposed  to 
be  the  descendants  of  Chinese  soldiers  abandoned 
by  their  chief,  the  renowned  Corsair,  Li  Ma 
Hong,  in  his  unsuccessful  attempt  to  effect  the 
conquest  of  the  Philippines  in  1574.  The  sol- 
diers fled  to  the  hills  on  the  departure  of  their 
chief,  and  their  intermarriage  with  the  Igorrote 
women  has  produced  this  peculiar  race,  still  dis- 
tinguishable by  their  oblique  eyes  and  Chinese 
features.  There  are  not  less  than  thirty  different 
languages  officially  recognized.  There  are  four 
or  five  of  these  spoken  in  Luzon.  The  Tagalo, 
the  principal  dialect  spoken  in  Luzon,  is  used  by 


THE   MISSION    IN    THE    PHILIPPINES  291 

one  and  a  half  millions ;  the  Visaya  by  over  two 
millions.  Spanish  is  the  language  of  Manila  and 
of  the  principal  ports  of  the  islands."  l 

The  Philippines  were  discovered  by  the  Spanish 
Navigator  Magellan,  on  March  i2th,  1521,  and 
about  fifty  years  later,  were  occupied  by  Miguel 
de  Legaspi.  And  the  islands  were  then  named 
in  honor  of  Philip  II,  the  King  of  Spain.  After 
four  centuries  of  Spanish  occupation,  the  Military 
Notes  published  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment, in  1898,  declared,  "  Education  is  much  neg-i 
lected,  and  both  the  institutions  for  higher  and 
primary  instruction  are  antiquated  in  their  methods 
and  far  behind  the  times."  And  the  report  of  the 
Philippine  Commission  in  1900,  asserts  : — 

"In  the  old  days  it  was  not  altogether  safe  for 
a  native  to  avail  himself  fully  of  the  educational 
facilities  theoretically  afforded  him  at  the  institu- 
tions within  the  archipelago,  and  if  he  went  abroad 
to  pursue  his  studies  he  was  a  marked  man  after 
his  return.  This  fact  was  strikingly  illustrated  in 
the  case  of  Dr.  Rizal,  who  was  eventually  executed 
without  just  cause.  His  fate  has  been  shared  by 
many  other  prominent  Filipinos  in  the  past." 

It  is  not  surprising  that  there  was  rebellion, 
both  against  the  State  and  the  Church.  Indeed 
Aguinaldo  "stated  that  the  primary  causes  of  the 
Philippine  revolution  were  the  ecclesiastical  cor- 
porations, which,  taking  advantage  of  the  corrupt 
Spanish  Government,  robbed  the  country,  pre- 
venting progress  and  liberty ;  he  claimed  for  the 
Filipino  priests  the  right  to  appointment  to  the 
duties  of  bishops  and  parochial  priests  ;  he  de- 
nounced as  dangerous  to  the  interests  of  the 
Philippines  the  allowance  to  the  regular  Spanish 
clergy  to  continue  their  rule  in  the  islands,  be- 

1  Bible  Work  in  the  Philippines,  pp.  4,  5. 


2Q2  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

lieving  that  they  would  incite  a  counter  revolution 
in  the  interests  of  Spain."  l 

All  this  is  past  now,  and  the  missionary  out- 
look is  bright  and  hopeful,  among  a  people  ready 
for  the  work  of  missions  which  bring  a  pure 
Christianity  and  able  to  appreciate  it.  "During 
my  stay  in  the  Philippines,"  said  President 
Schurman,  a  member  of  the  Commission,  "  nothing 
surprised  rne  more  than  the  appearance,  in- 
telligence, and  deportment,  of  the  educated  na- 
tives. Their  characteristics  are  often  pleasing  to 
the  foreigners.  For  one  thing  they  are  very  tem- 
perate and  cleanly/)  I  regret  that  the  Americans 
allowed  the  saloon  to  get  a  foothold  on  the  islands. 
That  has  hurt  the  Americans  more  than  anything 
else,  and  the  spectacle  of  Americans  drunk 
awakens  disgust  in  the  Filipinos.  We  sup- 
pressed the  cockfight  there,  and  permitted  the 
taverns  to  flourish.  One  emphasized  the  Filip- 
ino frailty  and  the  other  the  American  vice.  I 
suppose  wherever  there  are  65.000  Anglo-Saxons 
there  will  always  be  some  drunkards,  and  it  seems 
difficult  to  prevent  it.  But  it  was  unfortunate 
that  we  introduced  and  established  the  saloon 
there  to  corrupt  the  natives  and  to  exhibit  to 
them  the  vice  of  our  race.  I  have  never  seen  a 
Filipino  drunkard.  They  will  take  a  small 
wineglass  of  liquor,  and  be  content  with  that, 
and  this  temperance  in  drink  is  characteristic  of 
their  moderation  in  many  other  things.  Probably 
no  one  thing  has  damaged  the  American  people  in 
the  eyes  of  the  natives  more  than  this  great  vice  of 
ours  of  indulging  too  freely  in  drink.  In  Manila, 
which  is  really  a  cosmopolitan  city,  in  Iloilo,  and 
other  cities  of  the  islands,  you  will  find  educated 
Filipinos,  who  are  bright  and  pleasing  to  meet 
socially,  fit  is  a  good  thing  that  we  have  such  a 
1  Report  of  the  Philippine  Commission,  Vol.  I.,  p.  130. 


THE    MISSION    IN    THE    PHILIPPINES  293 

nucleus  of  education  to  begin  with.  Many  of 
them  know  French  and  German,  as  well  as  Span- 
ish and  their  native  tongue.  The  great  masses 
of  course  are  ignorant,  but  one  good  thing  in 
their  favor  is  that  they  thirst  for  knowledge. 
They  recognize  their  ignorance,  and  regret  it. 
They  have  been  in  contact  with  Europeans  long 
enough  to  know  that  education  will  help  them  to 
become  more  powerful.  This  is  why  the  fortu- 
nate few  have  obtained  their  education,  and  they 
exercise  a  power  over  their  own  people  that  they 
could  not  otherwise  have  secured.  It  is  promis- 
ing for  the  future  that  we  have  examples  of  the 
educated  few  to  show  us  what  can  be  accomplished. 
With  good  American  schools  on  the  islands  the 
leaven  of  general  education  will  produce  results 
for  the  masses  that  will  develop  the  race  rapidly. 
I  hope  the  missionaries  who  go  there  will  provide 
American  schools,  and  they  will  find  a  hearty 
welcome.  The  people  are  ready  for  good,  honest 
education,  and  knowing  the  value  of  it  they  will 
be  very  tractable  pupils  in  the  hands  of  their 
teachers.  The  Filipinos  have  many  other  good 
characteristics.  They  are  honest  by  nature,  and 
show  it  in  their  dealings,  although  suspicious  of 
the  white  men.  I  do  not  say  they  have  the 
straightforward,  sturdy  honesty  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon.  For  centuries  they  have  been  deceived 
by  the  Spaniards  until  they  have  learned  to  prac- 
tice some  of  their  subterfuge.  But  we  have  sub- 
stantial ground  for  hope  that  when  we  establish  a1 
government  there  we  will  succeed." 

And  we  will  succeed  in  establishing  a  living 
Church,  too.  As  the  missionaries  write:  — 

"For  the  mission  there  is  an  open  door  that 
should  appeal  to  every  American  Christian. 
Never  in  the  history  of  the  American  Church  has 
such  an  opportunity  been  offered  or  such  respon- 


294  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

sibility  been  placed  on  the  American  public. 
Conditions  in  the  Philippines  are  similar  to  those 
in  Germany  when  Luther  arose :  A  renegade 
priesthood,  a  dead  Church,  a  people  that  has  been 
starved,  earnestly  pleading  for  the  water  and 
bread  of  life.  The  conditions  are  ripe  for  a 
wholesale  revolt  from  Rome." 

And  until  Rome  changes  and  deals  honestly 
with  the  hearts  of  the  people  their  only  spiritual 
hope  is  in  revolt  from  her  dominion. 


CONCLUSION 

THE  missions  of  our  Church  thus  girdle  the 
world.  There  is  never  an  hour  when  our  mis- 
sionaries are  not  telling  to  some  hearts  the  glad 
tidings  of  the  Saviour.  On  every  continent,  save 
Europe,  and  among  the  adherents  of  every  re- 
ligion our  representatives  are  at  work ;  in  North 
America,  South  America,  Asia,  Africa,  and  the 
Islands  of  the  Sea  ;  among  Hindus,  Mohammed- 
ans, Buddhists,  Confucianists,  Shintoists,  Sha- 
manists,  Fetich  worshipers,  and  degraded  forms 
of  Christianity.  It  has  been  estimated  that 
nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  million  people  in  the 
countries  occupied  by  our  missionaries  have  be- 
come the  charge  of  our  Church,  and  will  hear  the 
gospel  from  us  or  from  no  one.  Shall  we  give  it 
to  them  ? 

What  right  to  the  gospel  have  we  which  is  not 
also  a  right  of  theirs  ?  If  the  gospel  is  not  for 
them,  it  is  not  for  us.  If  it  is  worth  anything  to 
us,  it  is  worth  as  much  to  them.  Is  not  our 
Saviour  the  Saviour  of  the  world  ?  That  is  his 
desire  and  his  prayer.  And  his  will  for  us  is  that 
we  should  carry  him  to  the  world,  should  lift  him 
up  before  the  world,  that,  being  lifted  up,  he  may 
draw  all  men  unto  himself. 

It  is  for  this  that  the  Church  exists.  In  read- 
ing about  her  missions,  we  are  not  reading  of  any 
incidental  or  secondary  enterprise.  This  is  her 
chief  business.  If  we  are  ignorant  of  what  the 
Church  is  doing  to  evangelize  the  world,  we  are 
faithless  to  her.  Those  are  her  true  children  who 

295 


296  PRESBYTERIAN    FOREIGN    MISSIONS 

know  and  love  the  story  of  her  triumphs,  who 
with  eyes  upon  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,, 
and  hearts  embracing  all  the  peoples,  pray  ever 
sincerely,  "Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done 
on  earth,"  and  who  toil  for  the  fulfillment  of  their 
prayer. 


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